People magazine has named Jonathan Bailey its Sexiest Man Alive for 2025, unveiling the choice during a live segment on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon as the franchise marks a milestone year. The British actor, 37, accepted the title with self-deprecating humour and a nod to the secrecy around the decision, calling it “the honor of a lifetime” while also describing the whole thing as “completely absurd.” The reveal places Bailey—best known to mainstream audiences as Lord Anthony in Netflix’s Bridgerton and as Fiyero in the film adaptation of Wicked—at the centre of one of American pop culture’s most enduring rituals, while reinforcing the momentum he has carried through a run of high-profile projects on both sides of the Atlantic.
The announcement came late on Monday in New York, where Bailey appeared on Fallon’s set in front of an oversized version of his People cover. In the studio interview he leaned into the surrealism of seeing his image blown up to theatre-poster scale, joked with the host about the pecking order that the title confers, and admitted he’d found it hard not to let the secret slip after “a few drinks.” Asked if he thought people would treat him differently now, he replied: “I f—ing hope so!” The moment served as the official hand-off from 2024’s winner, John Krasinski, to a performer whose year has been defined by big-ticket releases and a steadily expanding public profile.
People has named Jonathan Bailey the Sexiest Man Alive of 2025. pic.twitter.com/kln2FjxGoq — Pop Base (@PopBase) November 4, 2025
People’s cover story presents Bailey in relaxed, coastal-English settings—cable-knit jumpers, a glass of Bordeaux within reach—and builds a portrait of an actor who remains faintly incredulous at the scale of his current fame. “It’s a huge honor. Obviously I’m incredibly flattered. And it’s completely absurd,” he told the magazine when asked for his first reaction to the choice. Maintaining the secrecy around the selection appears to have produced at least one gentle breach: “I told my dog Benson,” he said, before mock-spelling out N-D-A as if to reassure handlers he’d otherwise kept schtum. Those quotes, combined with the Tonight Show reveal, gave the announcement the kind of lightly comic, self-aware tone that tends to play well with audiences who have followed Bailey’s rise from stage standout to franchise regular.