“I’ll Still Look Worse Than Most of the Other Avengers.” How Paul Rudd’s Wife and Friends Mocked His Title “Sexiest Man Alive”

Just imagine being an actor who worked tirelessly to make a name for yourself in Hollywood. You faced years of rejection at auditions, seized every opportunity to get a role, and finally became an actual star. Moreover, you were named the most attractive person of the modern era. How would your loved ones react to this? Would they laugh at it?

Well, it’s possible that things might have been different for you, but for Paul Rudd, this is exactly what happened.

The most attractive man

In 2021, Paul Rudd was called the “Sexiest Man Alive.” He really seems to be in the best shape of his life. But, as he says himself, it’s getting harder to stay in shape with age. He felt that of all the Marvel movies he’s done, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania was the hardest one to prepare for. Aside from the training, the man limited his diet to look his best.

“I can be a hyper-focused person if I have a goal. If I’m doing one of these movies and I know that in four months I have to do a shirtless scene, I’m pretty dialed in,” Rudd says. And of course, he jokes, “I could work out hard and eat perfectly, and I’ll still look worse than most of the other Avengers.”

People around him love joking that Paul Rudd doesn’t age. In the romantic comedies of the 90s, such as The Object of My Affection and Overnight Delivery, or in modern superhero movies, the actor draws a lot of attention to himself. His colleague Jason Segel once joked that Paul is a vampire that was bitten in his prime. Otherwise, how can someone be so attractive for such a long time?

Wearing the crown of the most attractive man on the planet is a job with no days off. So, when this title was bestowed upon Chris Evans, Rudd breathed a sigh of relief, saying, “Look, here’s the deal, Chris. This comes with a lot of responsibility.” Captain America didn’t hesitate to respond and, accepting the title, said that following in Paul Rudd’s footsteps is almost impossible, but he’ll try.

Laughing at himself

Of course, the conversation between Rudd and Evans is nothing more than a joke. Paul, who has been dubbed a sex symbol since the 1995 hit Clueless, doesn’t take any of it seriously. Even today, he struggles to understand how he earned that title. He feels it would have been better if he had been named the kindest, hardest-working, or friendliest. That’s something the actor could accept. But the hottest man alive...

Rudd doesn’t take such titles seriously, and perhaps out of awkwardness or some innate modesty, he always tries to turn the conversation into a joke. “I’m hoping now that I’ll finally be invited to some of those [intimate] dinners with Clooney and Pitt and B Jordan.”

But he says that the new title only complicates his life, because his friends take any opportunity to tease him. And one of the first to publicly tease Paul was his longtime friend Jennifer Aniston, with whom he has played on-screen lovers several times. “You don’t age, which is weird,” she wrote. Oh, how right Rudd is! His friends don’t treat the new title with any seriousness or respect.

Who Paul Rudd really wants to like him

All people are different, and of course, for some, a place in the rankings of “the top something” is an important achievement. It’s just not for Paul. Despite everyone’s obsession with his beauty and charisma, the actor sees himself very differently — first and foremost as a husband and father of 2 children, and only after that as some kind of star.

Outside the public part of his life, Paul is far from the world of glamor. He lives with his family in Rhinebeck, New York, and spends all his free time with his family, who also don’t miss the chance to laugh at Rudd’s attractiveness. For example, this is how his wife, Julie, reacted to the news of his 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.’”

Maybe one of the reasons why the actor is not impressed by the fact that he is the sexiest man alive is because he found the woman he wants to like him a long time ago. And he’s been faithful to her for more than 25 years. Julie Yaeger was the first person Paul met when he moved to New York.

When they first met, she helped him by dropping his luggage off at his friend’s place so he wouldn’t have to haul it around during an audition. This is how their story began. Julie charmed him with her wisdom, and 8 years later, they got married.

Popularity for a good cause

In a recent interview, Evangeline Lilly revealed that she receives “major cool points” from her children for playing a superhero. However, her co-star Paul Rudd’s son and daughter aren’t too impressed that their dad is Ant-Man. The actor is actually happy about it and tries to avoid drawing attention to himself. Instead, he wants to focus on bringing more important things to the world’s attention.

Paul’s father once explained the point of life to him: “You’re only here for a short while anyway, so try and do something that adds to the pot, that makes life a little bit easier for somebody else, and you’re contributing to the world while you’re here and not just taking what you can from it.” With that, the actor found the point of his profession.

If popularity has become such an integral part of life, why not use it for something good? Paul Rudd joined an organization dedicated to helping young people who stutter. He also raises money for children’s hospitals, helps research diseases, and saves animals.

So, his main role as a superhero is not just on the screen, but also in real life. As his father once taught him, Paul tries to do everything he can to make this world a better place.