The day I met the first lady of hell

When Joan Juliet Buck agreed to interview Asma al-Assad for Vogue, she had no idea it would destroy her livelihood and end her long career with the fashion bible. Here she reveals the truth about her week with the Assads.

LATE IN THE afternoon of Dec 1, 2010, I got a call from a features editor at Vogue. She asked if I wanted to go to Syria to interview the first lady, Asma al-Assad.

“Absolutely not,” I said. “I don’t want to meet the Assads, and they don’t want to meet a Jew.”