People’s 2021 named Paul Rudd as the sexiest man alive and we can’t help but agree. Apparently, Paul is having a hard time accepting the title. The 52-year-old actor has heard it all: gentle, self-deprecating, amiable, and hardworking, all of which he has embraced to some extent. But sexy? That’s a touch out of his comfort zone.
“I do have an awareness, enough to know that when people hear that I’d be picked for this, they would say, ‘What?’ ” the actor tells PEOPLE in this week’s cover story. “This is not false humility. There are so many people that should get this before me,” he adds.
Rudd’s humbleness, combined with his stunning green eyes and easy grin, is exactly why viewers have fallen in love with him throughout the years. This month alone, he’s reuniting with Will Ferrell for the new Apple TV+ series The Shrink Next Door, as well as taking on one of Hollywood’s most beloved franchises, Ghostbusters: Afterlife.
Even after all the stardom, he feels most happy staying at home with his family. “When I think about myself, I think of myself as a husband and a father, like I’m that,” he says. “I just hang out with my family when I’m not working. That’s what I kind of like the most.” His wife was the only one to know prior about the title. “She was stupefied,” he says. “But you know she was very sweet about it. After some giggling and shock, she said ‘Oh, they got it right.’ And that was very sweet. She was probably not telling the truth, but what’s she going to say?”
“I’m hoping now that I’ll finally be invited to some of those sexy dinners with Clooney and Pitt and B Jordan,” he says. “And I figure I’ll be on a lot more yachts. I’m excited to expand my yachting life. And I’ll probably try to get better at brooding in really soft light. I like to ponder. I think this is going to help me become more inward and mysterious. And I’m looking forward to that.”