Who

A member of the literary "brat pack" of the '80s, McInerney shot to fame with his novel Bright Lights, Big City. He's married to Anne Hearst.

Backstory

Raised in Connecticut, McInerney attended Williams College—where he met his lifelong friend and editor, Gary Fisketjon—before landing a job in the fact-checking department at The New Yorker in the early '80s. While there he made his literary debut with 1984's Bright Lights, Big City, a chronicle of cocaine-saturated '80s urban hedonism that quickly made him part of the so-called "brat pack"—a group that also included Bret Easton Ellis and Tama Janowitz—and established his rep as a nightclubbing lothario. (The book was later turned into a movie starring Michael J. Fox.) McInerney's gone on to pen nine more books—although none has achieved the success of his debut—including the novels Brightness Falls, The Last of the Savages, and Model Behavior. His 2002 book, Bacchus and Me: Adventures in the Wine Cellar, was a collection of his wine columns for House & Garden. His most recent book was The Good Life, his "9/11 novel" published in 2006.

Of note

A symbol of the wild excess of the 1980s, McInerney has long struggled to gain respect as a writer. (He was once described as "Dan Quayle of the American publishing scene.") In recent years, he's desperately tried to distance himself from his previous image, that of a "coke-snorting, modelizing, nightclubbing bad boy." In the process, he's managed to turn himself into the sort of person his younger self would have relentlessly mocked: He wrote about overpriced wine and food as a contributing editor to House & Garden until the magazine folded in late 2007, and is currently married to an A-list socialite/heiress.

Namedrop

Binky Urban is McInerney's agent, Gary Fisketjon is his editor, and Sonny Mehta is his publisher. Good friend Campion Platt designed his former apartment and Robert Couturier decorated his new abode in the Village. Looking to meet him in person? He's a staple at Keith McNally's restaurants and at pal Graydon Carter's Waverly Inn. Now that he's married to Anne Hearst, he has two social scenesters as stepdaughters—Lydia Hearst and Gillian Hearst Simonds.

Personal

McInerney's currently on marriage number four. His first two wives were model Linda Rossiter (whom he met while studying in Japan) and Merry Reymond. When McInerney left Reymond for model Marla Hanson, it prompted the former to attempt suicide; after four years, though, Hanson walked out, at which point McInerney immediately married Helen Bransford, a Tennessean seven years his senior. Given her age (43), Bransford couldn't conceive, so the couple paid a waitress $15,000 to do the job, resulting in twins, Maisie and John. McInerney and Bransford split up in the late 1990s. After a relationship with publicist named Jeanine Pepler, McInerney shacked up with magazine heiress Anne Hearst in 2005. They married in November 2006. Rudy Giuliani officiated at the nuptials.

Habitat

McInerney and Hearst recently purchased a $3.2 million penthouse on 9th Street. The apartment has wraparound terraces, multiple fireplaces and greenhouses. They also have a home in Bridgehampton, which was designed by Christie Brinkley's ex-husband Peter Cook.