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A new book authored by Variety co-editor-in-chief Ramin Setoodeh details former President Donald Trump’s alleged obsession with Will & Grace star Debra Messing.
Journalist Yashar Ali – who obtained an advanced copy of Setoodeh’s Apprentice in Wonderland – posted several excerpts from the book on Monday, detailing Trump’s seeming obsession with Messing.
According to Ali, the former president “repeatedly brought up Messing unprompted in multiple sit-down interviews with Setoodeh,” complimented her “attractive” appearance, and “admitted that he spent time while in the White House monitoring Messing’s Twitter feed.”
In one excerpt from the book, Trump recalls the time Messing allegedly approached him “with her beautiful red hair” and thanked him for “saving” NBC with his show The Apprentice.
“She said, ‘Sir—I love you! Thank God for you! You’re saving the network, and you’re saving my show.’ Because in that world, which I know a lot about now, when
you have a hit, a lead-in, it’s a massive difference,” Trump told Setoodeh. “She was so thankful… She said, ‘I can’t thank you enough.’ Do you believe this? I’ve been watching her. And I’m saying, ‘She’d do anything for me.’”
In several follow-up interviews with Setoodeh, Trump allegedly continued to bring up Messing unprompted, railing against the “quite attractive” actress’ criticism of him in recent years and confessing his previous “crush” on her.
“The next time we talk, Trump brings up Messing again, and he confirms something that he’d only dropped hints about in our last meeting,” wrote Setoodeh. “During the early years of The Apprentice, Trump even had a crush on Will & Grace’s leading lady.”
Setoodeh suggested, “Maybe that’s why he can’t quite shake the bitterness that now exists between them. A former president who can’t win over a star almost sounds like the premise of a corny romantic comedy, but for Trump, Messing’s rejection is still a sharp dagger to his heart.”
