The People magazine “Sexiest Man” saga: wherein Bradley Cooper is self-deprecating

There was a protest outside People magazine in support of Ryan Gosling once it was determined that Bradley Cooper was the 2011 “Sexiest Man Alive,” and it seems that Cooper has taken the uproar to heart. Cooper told U.K. talk show host Graham Norton that he had been reviewing paparazzi photographs of himself and in some he looks like “the neighbour who never really comes out of his house.” It’s sad what the celebrity machine can do to a man: “I’m finally at an age—I’m 36 years old—where I really don’t care about anything like that anymore, which is a wonderful thing. Then this [People magazine title] happened, and I started to realize how not sexy I am.” Yes, because when a man or woman chooses one celebrity (the Goz) over another to pine after, it automatically makes the jilted celebrity not sexy. Real mature, Bradley. (It should be noted that Cooper allegedly had to accept the title in order for it to be printed—but the great thing is, he stopped caring about that stuff a long time ago.)