Julia Roberts, Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom were among Dr. Anthony Fauci’s biggest celebrity supporters during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As the 85-year-old infectious disease expert became the face of America’s COVID-19 response after the pandemic became a global crisis in March 2020, he also attracted an unlikely fan club in Hollywood – including Brad Pitt portraying him on “Saturday Night Live at Home.”
While chronicling his management of the spiraling health emergency, Fauci also wrote frequently of his rapidly rising fame in his private 2020 journals, which were released by Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Rand Paul, R-Ky, earlier this week.
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“The situation with my national and international fame is explosive and really unimaginable,” Fauci wrote in a May 21, 2020, entry in his diary.
“It is not hyoperbole [sic] to say that today I am the most famous and talked about person in the country and one of the most recognizable peson [sic] in the world,” he added.
Fauci also dedicated significant space across numerous entries to logging his personal interactions with Hollywood A-listers, including Julia Roberts, Barbra Streisand and Sean Penn among others.
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As Fauci comes under increasing scrutiny ahead of his scheduled testimony before the Senate Homeland Security Committee as part of its investigation into the origins of the pandemic, here’s a look at the celebrities who publicly championed the longtime public health official during the pandemic.
Julia Roberts raved over Fauci while conducting an Instagram Live interview with him as part of ONE Campaign’s new #PassTheMic series.
“How rad that we have maybe the coolest man on the planet right now,” the Oscar winner told viewers before Fauci joined her on the video call. “Wow, this is intense.”
Roberts then gasped and beamed when Fauci appeared on the screen, saying, “Oh, this is such a thrill.”
“This is a thrill for me because there are very few experts of anything in the world, and you truly have emerged as a personal hero for me,” she added. “Just to have this little corner of your time for us is such a joy.”
In a May 2020 diary entry, Fauci wrote about his “wonderful discussion” with Roberts, who he described as “absolutely fabulous” and “totally down to earth.” He also shared that he was “embarrassed” when she told him that he was her personal hero.
On Feb. 10, 2021, Fauci detailed how Roberts presented him with amfAR’s Award of Courage virtually from her home in California. “When my image came up on the screen she gasped and said that every time she sees me her throat gets dry and she gets nervous and excused herself to go into the kitchen and get a glass of water,” he wrote.
In April 2020, Kim Kardashian organized a private Zoom call with Fauci which included 36 other celebrities, athletes and influencers. Katy Perry, Orlando Bloom, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis, Brad Falchuk, Tiffany Haddish, 2 Chainz and Dennis Quaid were among the notable attendees.
“It was a whole bunch of movie stars and some sports figures, and they wanted to know about what they could do to stay safe, about wearing masks and avoiding crowds,” Fauci said of the hourlong call in a November 2020 interview with CNN. “I was impressed by the questions they asked, by their level of sophistication.”
Fauci explained that he agreed to the call due to the group’s enormous reach, noting that they had “megaphones” and “could get the word out about staying safe.”
“Each of them has enormous numbers of followers on their social media accounts,” he told CNN. “I could say to them, for example, it’s important to wear a mask, and they get on their accounts and say ‘wear a mask’ and it goes out to an additional couple of million people.”
Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom, who were engaged at the time, actively demonstrated their support for Fauci as the crisis was unfolding. Along with participating in the Zoom call, the former couple donned matching black hoodies emblazoned with the wording “Fauci Gang” for an Instagram post that Bloom shared in May 2020.
“Double tap if you’re in the #drfauci gang,” Bloom wrote in the caption.
The hoodies were created as part of a Jerry Media x PizzaSlime collaboration and priced at $69. According to Bustle, the first batch of hoodies quickly sold out after their release. A portion of the proceeds from each sale benefited the CDC Foundation’s Coronavirus Emergency Response Fund.
Jennifer Garner publicly praised Fauci before hosting the infectious disease expert for a lengthy Instagram Live in September 2020 in which they discussed parents’ concerns during the pandemic.
Garner later shared the interview in an Instagram post, writing in the caption, “Conversation with Dr. Fauci Back-to-School/vaccine/sports/and more questions answered here. I love Dr. Fauci—and you will, too.”
The actress and Fauci’s conversation spanned a wide range of topics, including schools reopening, youth sports, vaccines, vitamins, flu shots and when Americans could safely return to movie theaters.
During the interview, Garner expressed her gratitude to Fauci, telling him, “I just wanted to start by just saying thank you for never lying to us. Thank you for always giving it to us straight.”
“I know that you have saved, I mean, countless lives,” she added.
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Leonardo DiCaprio honored Fauci during the National Italian American Foundation’s 2020 virtual gala, where the infectious disease expert received the Leonardo da Vinci Award for Leadership in Health and Science.
“While COVID is keeping most of us at home, people like Dr. Fauci go to work each morning with one goal: to see our nation through the most devastating pandemic in a century,” DiCaprio said via the Washingtonian.
“I am delighted that NIAF is honoring his lifelong commitment to serving the public good, we are fortunate to have Dr Fauci’s leadership and guidance in these difficult times,” he added.
Other celebrities who shared tributes to Fauci at the gala included Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Michael Douglas, Patti LuPone, Bono, Marisa Tomei, Alan Alda, Dionne Warwick and Angelica Huston.
Matthew McConaughey gave Fauci one of his biggest celebrity platforms during the pandemic when he interviewed the infectious disease expert on Instagram in August 2020.
During their 40-minute conversation, McConaughey and Fauci discussed COVID-19 myths and vaccines. The Oscar winner expressed his anger and disappointment over how he felt the virus had become “politicized.”
“Like a lot of people, I’ve been more than disillusioned — actually quite full of rage — at how COVID has been politicized,” McConaughey said.
The actor closed their conversation by embracing Fauci’s call for Americans to “pull together” as the former Chief Medical Advisor to the President noted they had done in the aftermath of World War II and 9/11.
“This is equivalent to that, Matthew. We’ve got to pull together, absolutely,” Fauci said.
“That’s it,” McConaughey said. “We can have our freedom and our party later. Right now, let’s pull together.”
Alyssa Milano was among Hollywood’s most vocal defenders of Fauci during the pandemic. The actress frequently shared his interviews on social media, encouraged followers to trust the nation’s top infectious disease expert and repeatedly criticized political attacks against him as debates over masks, shutdowns and vaccines intensified.
However, Milano, who is a longtime critic of President Donald Trump, publicly expressed frustration with Fauci as she shared her opinion that he hadn’t been outspoken enough in challenging the administration’s response to the pandemic.
“Dr. Fauci might be great and a national treasure, but please let us not forget that he just sat there as Trump made ridiculous uneducated public health claims,” she wrote on X in July 2020. “He has also allowed the White House to silence him as things continued to spiral out of control.”
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Mark Ruffalo repeatedly praised Fauci and amplified the infectious disease expert on social media. In an April 2020 post on X, Ruffalo wrote, “Thank you Dr. Fauci for speaking truth to power.”
Throughout the pandemic, Ruffalo shared the doctor’s public health guidance with his followers, including posting Fauci’s interviews along with vaccine information and messages encouraging Americans to follow scientific recommendations.
As criticism of Fauci intensified in mid-2020, Ruffalo often defended the infectious disease expert on social media. He amplified stories defending Fauci and called attention to what he viewed as attacks on public health experts.
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George Takei was one of Fauci’s most consistent celebrity supporters on social media. The “Star Trek” actor celebrated former President Joe Biden’s decision to keep Fauci as chief medical adviser when he took office in January 2021.
In an X post he shared in December 2020, Takei shared a clip about Fauci continuing his role in Biden’s administration, writing, “Wonderful news, indeed.”
Throughout 2020 and beyond, Takei used his large social media following to defend Fauci, praise his work and criticize attacks on him.
