Sexiest Man Alive Blake Shelton: "I Had Been Fat and Ugly My Whole Life"

"I am going to milk this for everything that it's worth," the singer tells Ellen DeGeneres

By Zach Johnson Nov 16, 2017 11:40 AMTags

Even Blake Shelton can't believe he's been named People's Sexiest Man Alive.

"The room just got hotter," Ellen DeGeneres told him on her show Thursday. "It really did."

"I mean, you know, you can't be the Sexiest Man Alive unless you're the Sexiest Man Alive," the "I'll Name the Dogs" singer joked of his newfound status. "You know, I said this in the magazine—when I did my interview for Sexiest Man Alive—that I'd been fat and ugly my whole life, and if only for one year I get to be sexy, I'm going to milk this for everything that it's worth."

Shelton succeeds Dwayne Johnson (2016), David Beckham (2015), Chris Hemsworth (2014), Adam Levine (2013), Channing Tatum (2012), Bradley Cooper (2011), Ryan Reynolds (2010), Johnny Depp (2009), Hugh Jackman (2008), Matt Damon (2007) and 18 more stars who've received the honor. Looking at old photos of himself, he said, "Mullets coming back this year! That used to be ugly. It's officially sexy. It's the law now. It's like the sun coming up. I'm sexy."

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Blake Shelton Gets Backlash Over "Sexiest Man Alive" Title

Though Shelton has received some backlash over his new title, Levine endorsed his fellow Voice coach in a 2015 interview with E! News' Sibley Scoles. "Listen, as far as I'm concerned, he is the Sexiest Man Alive. People magazine doesn't know all. They don't know the Blake I know. If they did, he'd be on the cover. I think he's going to get it someday. I just think you've got to work hard at it, like I did. Just don't get down. I know that it's his No. 1 priority in life, so as long as he keeps working hard and being sexy-ish, like he kinda is with his thing, I think they're going to come to him," he said. "They're going to call him one day and be like, 'Blake, you're welcome. Here it is. You're now the Sexiest Man Alive. Country or no country, this is your country.'"

But that was then, and his feelings have changed. "He's like the good-looking guy on The Voice, anyway. But I'm just saying, Adam is not happy because he was the only sexy guy on the panel until this new law of the land was enforced by People magazine," Shelton joked. As for Gwen Stefani, "I feel bad for her, because she has been in the spotlight and this symbol of beauty."

"And now you're overshadowing her?" DeGeneres asked.

"I guess," Shelton said of his girlfriend of two years. "You know what? It's going to be humbling. It's going to be humbling—for her. But, I think she's got a big enough heart she can deal with it."

As DeGeneres pulled up more photos of a younger Shelton with a mullet, he joked, "When I think of sexy, I think of my heroes—and Billy Ray Cyrus...With this new power that has been bestowed upon me, I can bring the mullet back, which makes it OK for any of us to have one."