Rise Of A Legend

He’s come a long way from geeky boy to being named sexiest man alive – we look at John Legend’s winding road to success

- Dennis Cavernelis

FYOU’D told his 17-year-old self he’d one day be considered a sex symbol he would’ve laughed in your face.

Gangly and goofy, he was the ultimate nerd – and a supersmart one at that. He finished high school two years ahead of his peers and went to university when he was just 16. But cool he was not.

“Oh yes, I had an awkward phase,” John Legend recently admitted. “I was always less mature, less at ease socially.”

But just look at him now. The 40-year-old crooner is married to one of the sexiest women in showbiz, is a beloved judge on top talent-search show The Voice and has won almost every major music award going. And to top it all, readers of People recently voted him 2019’s sexiest man alive in the American magazine’s annual poll of the hottest hunks on the planet.

John takes the mantle from Idris Elba and marked the occasion with a pic and a post on social media.

“1995 John would be very perplexed to be following 2018 Idris Elba as sexiest man alive,” he wrote.

Earlier this year the All of Me singer jokingly predicted he might get the title.

“I feel like, if I’m on The Voice, I’m going to get it,” he said, referring to the fact that coaches Adam Levine and Blake Shelton were both named sexiest man alive – Adam in 2013 and Blake in 2017.

Some people were less than impressed with John’s win, with one troll saying she doubted he could “throw me over his shoulder or defend me better than I can”.

He lives an idyllic life now – happily married, fabulously successful and constantly in demand. But behind those smiling eyes lies a story of hardship and heartbreak that could’ve derailed geeky John’s early promise.