AAP FACTCHECK – Former US chief health adviser Anthony Fauci is married to the sister of convicted sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell, social media users claim.
This is false. Dr Fauci’s wife is Christine Grady, a US nurse and bioethicist born in 1952. She shares the same first name as one of Ms Maxwell’s siblings, but is not part of the Maxwell family.
The claim goes back to at least July 2020, the same month Ghislaine Maxwell was arrested for helping American financier Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse young girls.
It has previously been debunked by fact-checkers at USA Today, Factcheck.org, PolitiFact, AFP and Snopes.
But despite being proven false multiple times, the claim is still being repeated on social media.
A video posted to Facebook on September 29, 2024 includes a photo of Dr Fauci and his wife alongside the words: “Fauci is married to Ghislaine Maxwell’s sister … never a coincidence”.
Ghislaine Maxwell is a former British socialite and the daughter of publishing tycoon Robert Maxwell.
In December 2021, she was sentenced to 20 years in prison for her part in Epstein’s crimes.
Dr Fauci is a public health expert who served as the director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) from 1984 to 2022 and as a health adviser to seven US presidents.
He retired from his NIAID and presidential advisor roles in 2022.
Dr Fauci has been repeatedly targeted by misinformation online. Fact-checkers have debunked false claims about his stance on COVID vaccines, lockdowns, face masks and Donald Trump.
Some social media users have even promoted false claims he was arrested, charged with murder or did not exist.
The claim about his wife being related to Ms Maxwell is disproven by publicly available information.
Christine Grady is the head of the bioethics department at the US National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, a clinical research organisation based in Maryland.
She was brought up in New Jersey alongside four siblings, according to a 1997 interview with Dr Grady published by the National Institutes of Health and also according to a 2013 newspaper obituary of her father, John Grady.
Dr Fauci and Dr Grady were married in 1985 and have three daughters, according to a 2015 article published by the Financial Times.
Ghislaine Maxwell’s sister Christine Maxwell was born in Maisons Laffitte, France, on August 16, 1950, according to the Daily Mail.
In 1995, she co-founded the internet search engine Magellan with twin sister Isabel.
AAP FactCheck could find no evidence Dr Grady was related to the Maxwell family.
Additionally, video clips of Dr Grady and Christine Maxwell show the pair have completely different accents. Dr Grady has a US accent, while Christine Maxwell speaks with a British accent.
Dr Grady told AFP FactCheck in 2020 that the claim she was Ghislaine Maxwell’s sister was “complete nonsense”.
The Verdict
False – The claims are inaccurate.
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