Paul Anthony Kelly is People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive Centerfold

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Noah Wyle might have taken the People Magazine title Sexiest Man Alive for 2027, but model-turned-actor Paul Anthony Kelly of Ryan Murphy’s Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette got the runner-up prize: the issue’s centerfold.

Check out the sexy pics and some of our favorite highlights from his interview below.

On how he was about to give up on acting before landing his role as JFK Jr. in Love Story:

“I’d done a couple auditions, and nothing really came out of them,” he says. “We were thinking about the future and contemplating having a family and what the next steps were. I remember sitting on the couch and talking to her and I was like, ‘I don’t think this is going to happen. It’s been this long. I don’t know if this is for me.’ ”

On his goth phase in high school:

In high school, Kelly got into music, namely punk, metal and ‘80s goth rock. He also “started wearing makeup and had a big mohawk.”

“I would take the Rubies fake blood and dry it out and then put that on my eyes,” he says, before adding with a laugh, “They let me get away with a lot at this Catholic high school.”

On getting discovered by modeling agents while working at American Apparel:

“I think I went in the next day to the office to meet the head of men’s talent, and she gave me a contract on the spot,” he says. “I got fired from American Apparel a week later, so it was perfect timing.”

“It came at me very quick,” he says. “I just went with it and really changed my life. I got to travel the world and meet incredible people and live in incredible places.”

On meeting his wife, Syd Widziszewski-Kelly on a modeling project:

“Both of us were getting out of detrimental relationships and saying to ourselves, ‘We’re going to focus on ourselves for a while,’ ” he says. “We met each other on this job, and it was just like, ‘Oh, s—. Hi. How are you?’”

On how he slid into Syd’s DMs

“It’s not my style at all, but I just couldn’t stop thinking about her,” he says. “I was like, ‘Hey, do you like stuff?’ Then, for about three months, we talked every day.”

On the reaction to Love Story and his newfound fame:

“I think if I lived in New York while the show was airing, I wouldn’t have been able to go outside,” he says. “My wife was keeping me informed of what was happening, and it was great. It was a really neat experience to be at the forefront of that but also a little overwhelming, too. I never expected myself to be here or thought that I would, but here we are today.”

On spending time with his daughter:

“Any time I get to spend with her is just magical,” he says. “She’ll get up at 4 a.m., and I’ll let my wife sleep because she deserves it. She works so hard. But yeah, I have this nice uninterrupted time with her. We’ll play in the playpen, which is half of the living room. That’s hers now. And it’s fun to just be in there and read her little stories and play with things and get her laughing. Then, she’ll get tired and we’ll go into her nursery and she falls asleep on me. That’s the greatest feeling.”

On his dreams for the future:

“I’d love to have more kids, a nice little farm and grow our own vegetables,” he says. “Who knows what the future holds? But I’m so happy and content now. As long as I have [my family], I’m golden.”

Read the full interview here.