“Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Other Four-Letter Words” by Michael Ausiello (Atria Books) has been out for just over a month, but it’s already been back to press three times. It has gotten celebrity shoutouts from the likes of Andy Cohen, Jim Parsons, Chris Meloni and Connie Britton in addition to plenty of mentions on social media (many of which refer to emotional devastation and crying in public — the title is, sadly, no misrepresentation.)
Ausiello, a well-known TV columnist and the founder and editor-in-chief of the popular TVLine.com, tells the story of the courtship, life and subsequent loss of husband Kit Cowan, who died in February 2015 after being diagnosed with a rare form of neuroendocrine cancer.
While an undeniable tear-jerker, the book is also darkly hilarious in parts and makes no attempt to gloss over issues in the relationship. “If I painted it as this fairy tale, it would have undercut the whole story,” Ausiello recently told Entertainment Weekly, his former employer. “It was not an easy 13 years. We had ups and downs, and we fought to be together. And thank God we did.”
On the day that Kit is diagnosed, Ausiello is determined to find a silver lining. He goes online, fills out a marriage-license application and schedules a wedding at City Hall to take place after an appointment at Sloan Kettering.
It’s at this appointment that they learn that the cancer is stage 4 and that Cowan has about a year left. They had been together since 2001 and, in the face of this news, they’re determined to spend the rest of their time together legally married. When they make it to City Hall after a list of obstacles that includes a scene from “Law & Order: SVU” being filmed outside the marriage bureau 20 minutes before closing, they recite their own special vows.
“We’ve had our ups and downs over the past 13 years, but I always knew you were it for me,” Ausiello writes. “I don’t know what the future holds for us . . . but you’re stuck with me now.”