As a devoted husband and family man with a love for speed and adventure, it’s no wonder we’ve been swooning overPatrick Dempseyfor more than two decades.

Now he’s has been crownedPEOPLE’s 2023 Sexiest Man Alive. “I was completely shocked, and then I started laughing, like, this is a joke, right? I’ve always been the bridesmaid!” says theFerraristar, 57, of hearing the news. “I’d completely forgotten about it and never even contemplated being in this position. So my ego is good.”

“They’re just going to make fun of me and pick on me and figure out every reason why I shouldn’t be,” he adds. “Which is good, they keep me young.”

Patrick and Jillian Dempsey.Patrick Dempsey/instagram

Patrick Dempsey

Married on July 31, 1999, Dempsey says he knew Jillian was the one “the moment I saw her. I went in where she was working, and I looked across the room at her and was blown away.”

But it was a trip from Maine to New York that made him realize he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.

“She was pretty game for the road trip so I thought that was good,” theGrey’s Anatomyalum recalls. “I love the cold and rain and she loves the sun and beach. We’re complete opposites and I have to say, she’ll make me do sh– I never want to do and 9 times out of 10 she’s absolutely correct. So she puts up with me.”

Patrick Dempsey is PEOPLE’s Sexiest Man Alive 2023.Carter Smith

People’s Sexiest Man Alive 2023 cover; Patrick Dempsey

Carter Smith

For more on 2023’s Sexiest Man Alive, pick up this week’s issue ofPeople, on newsstands Friday.

As a husband, “I just try to be a better person every day and be present,” Dempsey says. “And to listen to what the needs are of the family and provide from that perspective.”

The two share “a good sense of humor, and she’s really hardworking,” he adds. “She’s always inspired me.”

Ferrariwill be in theaters on Christmas Day. For more information on the Dempsey Center, visitwww.dempseycenter.org.

source: people.com