Channing Tatum named People’s Sexiest Man Alive

When you play a male stripper in film and spend many of your scenes half naked, you pretty much automatically get nominated for the Sexiest Man Alive title … and probably have a good chance of winning.

Indeed, “Magic Mike” star Channing Tatum did just that and has clinched the honor of being named People magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive for 2012, landing on the cover of this week’s issue. But despite his good looks and buff physique, he didn’t quite believe it.

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"My first thought was, 'Y'all are messing with me,'" the 32-year-old actor tells People of hearing the news. "I told Jenna [Tatum’s wife of three years is actress Jenna Dewan-Tatum] after we'd been in the bathtub washing our dogs because they'd gotten skunked. She was like, 'What?'"

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"People know him to be fun and sexy, but they don't know how emotionally deep and spiritually open he is," says Dewan-Tatum, 31, who’s now taken to calling him the Sexiest Man Alive at home. "He is such an open-hearted person; what you see is what you get."

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And her fun and sexy husband is also open to starting a family … but as for how big that family is, well, that might be up to his better half. "I'm ready; I think she's ready. The first number that pops into my head is three, but I just want one to be healthy and then we'll see where we go after that,” the “21 Jump Street” actor explains. "It’s really easy for us guys to say, 'I want like 15 kids.’ Jenna will be like, 'Well you better get another wife!'"

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With no kids on the horizon just yet, the 195-pound Tatum is currently focused on Olympic training. No, he won’t actually be participating in the next Olympics, but will be playing an Olympic athlete on the big screen in 2013’s “Foxcatcher.”  "I like to be lean. If I get too bulky I can't move well and I like to move," he says. "When I'm not training, I get really round and soft."

United States of sexy

People's Sexiest Man Alive issue hits newsstands Friday, November 16.



Some are upset that Ryan Gosling was snubbed again this year:


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