As a devoted husband and family man with a love for speed and adventure, it’s no wonder we’ve been swooning over Patrick Dempsey for more than two decades.
Now, he has been named the sexiest man alive by PEOPLE magazine for the year 2023. “At first, I was very taken aback, but then I burst out laughing, thinking to myself, Is this some kind of joke? After hearing the news, the Ferrari star, who is 57 years old, said, “I’ve always been the bridesmaid!” “I’d totally forgotten about it, and I’d never even considered the possibility of ending myself in this predicament. So that’s wonderful for my ego.”
Dempsey’s wife Jillian, who is a makeup artist and the inventor of her own line of clean beauty products, “was shocked too,” he recalls with a giggle. And when it came to their children, Talula, who is now 21 years old, and Sullivan and Darby, who are twins and are 16 years old, the actor was ready for a lot of mocking.
“They’re just going to make fun of me and pick on me and figure out every reason why I shouldn’t be,” he adds. “Which is good, because they help keep me young.”
Dempsey and Jillian were wed on July 31, 1999, and he claims that he knew “the moment I saw her” that she was the one. I went in where she was working, and I looked across the room at her and was blown away.”
However, it was on the journey from Maine to New York that he came to the conclusion that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.
“She was pretty game for the road trip so I thought that was good,” the former Grey’s Anatomy cast member recalled of her friend. “While she enjoys the warmth of the sun and the beach, I like the snow and rain. We are polar opposites in every way, and I have to admit that she can force me to do things that I never, ever want to do, and nine times out of ten, she is completely right. So she puts up with me.”
As a husband, “I just try to be a better person every day and be present,” Dempsey says. “And to listen to what the needs of the family are in order to provide from that perspective.”
The two have “a good sense of humor, and she’s really hardworking,” he goes on to say of her. “She has always been an inspiration to me.”