What happened to People Magazine’s ‘Sexiest Woman Alive?’

Commiserations to runners-up Pedro Pascal, Timothée Chalamet, and Usher – In 2023, People Magazine awarded the coveted crown of “Sexiest Man Alive” to Patrick Dempsey. The former Grey’s Anatomy actor has been nominated multiple times for the award, but is only taking home the title for the first time this year, in 2023.

“I was completely shocked, and then I started laughing, like, this is a joke, right?” the 57-year old told the magazine. “I’ve always been the bridesmaid!” he joked.

If you’re wondering if this year’s King of Celebrity Crushes has a Queen equivalent, the answer is a little complicated. People has awarded women in the past, but the publication does not emphasize the award in the same way for the opposite sex.

What happened to People Magazine’s ‘Sexiest Woman Alive?’

The title of “Sexiest Woman Alive” has only been awarded by People Magazine once, in 2014, to actress and model Kate Upton. The award was actually a one-off, and hasn’t been repeated since. In 1993, Richard Gere and Cindy Crawford won the joint award for “Sexiest Couple Alive”, which was awarded instead of Sexiest Man Alive that year.

In recent years, most publications generally veer away from thirst posts involving famous women. For example, you may have noticed the vast majority of viral “reads thirst tweets” videos are male celebrities. Some publications still have “sexiest women” lists, most notably FHM’s “Hot 100” list. This year, plus-sized model and TV host Ashley Graham took home the crown.

Most people’s recollection of a “sexiest women” list published by People is probably confused with their annual “Most Beautiful People” award. The award is technically gender neutral, but there have only been three male winners – Mel Gibson, Tom Cruise, and Leonardo DiCaprio – who have won the title in its 33-year history. It is typically thought of as a woman’s award, especially with the word “beautiful” generally being a compliment directed at women.

The Most Beautiful award tends to celebrate spiritual beauty, and is not so much about attractiveness or star power, especially in comparison to Dempsey’s award. For example, in 2020, Goldie Hawn, her daughter Kate Hudson, and her one-year-old granddaughter won the joint Most Beautiful Award.

This year’s Most Beautiful winner is Academy Award-nominated actress and comedian Melissa McCarthy. The first plus-sized person to win the award, the 52-year-old told the publication that the honor felt like it was “saying something really lovely to my younger self, to my 20-year-old self, and maybe to other people, too.”