Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Kayleigh Donaldson | Celebrity | November 4, 2025
It happened? Seriously? After all of our speculating that People would choose yet another bland and uninspiring choice for their annual Sexiest Man Alive honour, they picked a good one? Up is down, black is white, and sexy is back, baby!
🔗: bit.ly/4qIcdtF #JonathanBailey is PEOPLE’s 2025 #SexiestManAlive! ⭐️ Brimming with charm, wit and almost unfairly handsome looks, it’s no wonder the ‘Wicked: For Good’ actor dove headfirst into our hearts. | 📷: @jasonhetheringtonstudio
— People Magazine (@people.com) November 4, 2025 at 5:50 AM
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To the surprise of pretty much everybody, Jonathan Bailey was crowned Sexiest Man Alive for 2025, an announcement made on The Tonight Show (Jimmy Fallon left sobbing over his snub.) The Bridgerton and Wicked star has had a good couple of years thanks to a mega-hit TV series, an Emmy nomination for Fellow Travelers, and starring roles in box office smashes like Jurassic World Rebirth. The Wicked sequel is on its way, so this is a nice marketing moment for star and movie alike. Fiyero’s got it, kids. That’s what dancing through life gets you.
Jonathan Bailey for PEOPLE’s Sexiest Man Alive 2025.
— Pop Crave (@popcrave.com) November 4, 2025 at 4:58 AM
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And look at those covers: it’s not full cheesecake shoot, but it’s way more rooted in actual sexiness than previous years of cozy sweaters and well-covered forearms. Bailey’s shirtless with his beloved dog in one, and all wet and bothered in another. The inside photos are even saucier. It’s a veritable thirst trap! This feels new for People. Look at all that skin on show!
Bailey is the first openly gay man to receive the Sexiest Man Alive honour. That shouldn’t feel like a big deal, but given the current climate, it most definitely is. We talked in our predictions post about how People tends to keep their SMA choice extremely safe: it’s usually a white guy who is married and/or has kids, one who has nationwide appeal and couldn’t be described as controversial in any way. That usually means being, if not hyper conservative, then at least appealing to demographics red and blue alike. We ragged on Blake Shelton getting the honour, but I bet the editors looked at their demographics and knew it would be a solid choice. Choosing an openly gay man in the midst of a hardcore anti-LGBTQ+ social and legislative pushback? This is downright radical by their standards.
Lainey Gossip’s predictions post on their Substack, The Squawk, brought up a really interesting point. The new editor of People, Charlotte Triggs, is a millennial. Is she trying to make the magazine appealing to her own demographic, which isn’t huge in buying physical press, with a thoroughly generation-approved choice? Or is she just aware that times are changing, and you can only choose George Clooney so many times? Whatever the case, it’s a good one that will get people talking positively about them. Previous years’ choices were often met with a shrug of, ‘eh, okay?’ This one won’t be.
I’m sure someone with a Twitch stream or overvalued social media platform will try to drum up ‘culture war’ crap over this and claim it’s an uber-woke choice designed to destroy the American family or some crap like that. Someone go jangle a set of keys in their faces until they calm down. But here’s the thing: Jonathan Bailey is actually a very conventional choice for this. Hear me out: he’s a hot white guy who has massive commercial appeal across film, TV, and stage; his work largely panders to women and often positions him in a romantic gaze; and he’s got a big studio behind him right now. He was in a Jurassic Park movie, guys! If he was straight, this choice wouldn’t bat an eyelid, except for it feeling way more modern a pick than, say, Patrick Dempsey (no offence.)
But we also can’t and shouldn’t separate this choice from Bailey’s identity. It still feels radical that we have an openly gay leading man in roles like Anthony Bridgerton and Fiyero, where we don’t have to read endless bad-faith think-pieces about him ‘not being convincingly straight enough’ to pull it off. And he’s doing lots of great non-straight roles too. He’s not being forced to hide his true self or endlessly cloak it in ‘I don’t talk about my private life’ quotes. He’s not avoiding politics or social change. He’s just doing his job, and really well. I can imagine someone like Bailey being a nightmare to those whose hate relies on keeping up archaic and callous myths about ‘real men’ and all that crap. Fine, let them seethe. More for us.
Jonathan Bailey photographed by Jason Hetherington for People Magazine’s 2025 Sexiest Man Alive Issue 🔗: https://people.com/jonathan-bailey-is-sexiest-man-alive-2025-11842000
— Film Updates (@thefilmupdates.bsky.social) November 4, 2025 at 4:59 AM
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