Sexiest Man Alive Patrick Dempsey Teases He Has Been in an Awkward Phase ‘Pretty Much My Entire Life’

Fans fell in love with Patrick Dempsey in 1987 Can’t Buy Me Love or like Andrew Hennings’ JFK-esque fiance in 2002 Sweet Home Alabama. Not to mention, as neurosurgeon Derek “McDreamy” Shepherd on ABC Grey’s Anatomy.

But the 57-year-old actor, who was just named PEOPLE’s Sexiest Man Alive 2023, jokes that he’s been in the awkward phase for “a little bit of a lifetime.”

During his childhood in Maine, “I had to move all the time. Lots of sports, baseball, soccer, skiing, biking,” the Ferrari the actor tells PEOPLE in this week’s cover story. “I was dyslexic, so the classroom was never a happy one, and I was a really late bloomer.”

In his youth, Dempsey joined a vaudeville troupe and rode a unicycle while juggling. “People are very enthusiastic when you juggle,” he says. “It helped my confidence a lot.”

Patrick Dempsey.

Carter Smith

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The actor says that the key now is maturity and wisdom. “I think it helps when you get older,” he explains. “You go through the cycles of life, so you realize that there will be good times and bad times and 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 sure my ego takes a bit of a hit, but it gives me a platform to use it for something positive.”

Patrick Dempsey.

Carter Smith

Closest to his heart is the Dempsey Center, which he founded in honor of his late mom, Amanda, who died in 2014 after a long battle with ovarian cancer.

“We help people who have cancer,” he says. “We don’t treat the disease, we treat the person and the whole family at no cost in what is called comprehensive care.”

As for his mom, “I think she’d be proud,” Dempsey adds. “We founded it in 2008, and one of the things that kept it going was entering the Center. She would come and talk to people who had just been diagnosed. There is a lot of healing between two people in those moments.”

For more on the 2023 Sexiest Man Alive, check out this week’s issue peopleon newsstands on Friday.

Carter Smith

Now a devoted family man with wife Jillian, 57, a makeup artist and founder of her own clean beauty line, and their children Talulah, 21, and 16-year-old twins Sullivan and Darby, Dempsey jokes that these days his confidence comes from “better clothes, and my wife takes great care of my hair.”

He probably has one of the best hairstyles in Hollywood. “It took four hours this morning to get it like this,” he says, laughing. “It’s all smoke and mirrors.”

Ferrari is in theaters on Christmas Day. For more information about the Dempsey Center, visit dempseycenter.org.

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Source: HIS Education