Paul Rudd's wife couldn't believe new 'Sexiest Man Alive' title

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Paul Rudd's wife couldn't believe his new 'Sexiest Man Alive' title: 'She was stupefied'

By Megan Armstrong | Last updated 11/10/21

Paul Rudd's 2019 "Hot Ones" interview has never been more relevant.
"Hey, look at us," Rudd said then, which has been memefied millions of times over.

"Who would've thought?" asked host Sean Evans.

"Not me!" Rudd responded.

And apparently, that is how Rudd's wife, Julie Yaeger Rudd, reacted when she learned he is People's 2021 Sexiest Man Alive.

"She was stupefied," the 52-year-old actor told the publication for its accompanying cover story. "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?"

Most people were expecting the title to go to Chris Evans, as Page Six reported Nov. 4 that would be the case. But Rudd was unveiled as the true winner during Tuesday's "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert."

"I'm hoping now that I'll finally be invited to some of those sexy dinners with [George] Clooney and [Brad] Pitt and [Michael] B. Jordan," Paul joked to People. "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."

Michael B. Jordan is the reigning "Sexiest Man Alive."

Rudd is objectively unsexy — on purpose, artistically — in Apple TV Plus' "The Shrink Next Door," in which he portrays Dr. Isaac "Ike" Herschkopf opposite Will Ferrell. The limited series is based upon true events previously chronicled in Bloomberg and Wondery's 2019 podcast by the same name.

In the 1980s, Dr. Herschkopf began treating Marty Markowitz (Will Ferrell) and slowly took advantage of his issues with boundaries — cutting his sister, Phyllis (Kathryn Hahn), out and manipulating his way into every aspect of Marty's business and life.

The first three episodes drop on Apple TV Plus this Friday (Nov. 12). Watch the trailer below.