Jew(ish) Hottie David Beckham Named ‘Sexiest Man Alive’

David Beckham Image by Getty Images

By Anne Cohen November 18, 2015

Retired English soccer star David Beckham, an international celebrity both on and off the field, was named People magazine’s “Sexiest Man Alive,” on Tuesday.

“It’s a huge honor,” Beckham, 40, told People of being handed the title on its 30th anniversary. “I’m very pleased to accept.”

The soccer legend and husband of pop star and fashion designer Victoria Beckham has long been known for his chiseled good looks.

He has been featured in advertisements for Pepsi, Adidas, and modeled underwear for Giorgio Armani, but the sportsman and father of four told People he has never thought of himself as “an attractive, sexy person.”

“I mean I like to wear nice clothes and nice suits and look and feel good, but I don’t ever think of myself that way,” he said.

Beckham’s wife, Victoria, 41, was supportive of his new title, he said.

“I would hope that she feels this way about me all the time anyway,” he told People.

Beckham is the second member of the tribe to hold the title in recent memory, after. The soccer star’s maternal grandfather was Jewish and he considers himself part of the tribe despite his lack of religious observance. In his autobiography, “My World,” Beckham wrote about his grandfather’s Judaism saying: “I’ve probably had more contact with Judaism than with any other religion. I used to wear the traditional Jewish skullcaps when I was younger, and I also went along to some Jewish weddings with my grandfather.”

According to the Jewish Journal, he has enrolled at least one of his four children in school at Stephen S. Wise Temple. And more importantly, he looks damn good in a yarmulke.

With Reuters

Anne Cohen was the Forward’s deputy digital media editor. When she’s not looking for the secret Jewish history of Voodoo in New Orleans, or making lists about Ruth Bader Ginsburg, she writes for The Assimilator. She graduated from the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism with an M.S. magazine concentration in 2012.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO