The Sexiest Man’s Biography: Age, Wife, Car, House, WhatsApp Number, and Net Worth
“For the Most Part of My Life” Sexiest Man Alive Patrick Dempsey Hints That He is Been Through a Tough Time
In the movies Can not Buy Me Love (1987) and Sweet Home Alabama (2002), fans fell in love with JFK-like fiancé Andrew Henning’s and Patrick Dempsey. Not to mention Grey’s Anatomy star Derek “McDreamy” Shepherd, a neurosurgeon on ABC.
The 57-year-old actor, who was recently named PEOPLE’s 2023 Sexiest Man Alive, jokes that he has spent “pretty much my entire life” in an awkward phase.
Growing up in Maine, he felt that he had to constantly be on the go. In this week’s cover story, the Ferrari actor tells people, “There are lots of sports: baseball, soccer, skiing, cycling.” “I was really a late bloomer, and the classroom was never happy because of my dyslexia.”
When he was younger, Dempsey performed as a unicyclist and juggler in a vaudeville troupe. “When you juggle, people get really excited,” he says. “That gave me a lot more confidence.”
The actor says the key now is maturity and wisdom. “I think it helps when you get older,” he explains. Because life is in cycles, you are aware that there will be highs and lows and that what matters most is what matters most. Everything else is a gift.”
Despite his heartthrob status over the years, “I’m glad it’s happening at this point in my life,” he says of his new title. “It’s nice to have the recognition, and certainly my ego takes a little bump, but it gives me the platform to use it for something positive.”
Closest to his heart is the Dempsey Center, which he founded in honor of his late mom, Amanda, who died in 2014 after a longtime battle with ovarian cancer.
“We help people who have been impacted by cancer,” he says. “We treat the person and their entire family at no cost—a practice known as wraparound care—rather than treating the disease.”
As for his mom, “I think she’d be proud,” Dempsey adds. Going into the Center was one of the things that kept her going when we founded it in 2008. She would come in and talk to people who were newly diagnosed. There’s a lot of healing between both people in those moments.”
Now a devoted family man to wife Jillian, 57, a makeup artist and founder of her own clean beauty line, and their kids Taluka, 21, and 16-year-old twins Sullivan and Darby, Dempsey jokes his self-confidence these days comes from “better clothes, and my wife does a great job taking care of my hair.”
He does arguably have some of the best hair in Hollywood. “It took four hours this morning to get it like this,” he says, laughing. “It’s all smoke and mirrors.”