Stanley Tucci reacts to being a sex symbol at 61: 'My wife thinks it's funny'

Stanley Tucci is a bit bemused by his popularity as a sex symbol.

The Searching for Italy host, 61, says that while he's delighted by the exuberant love and support he gets from fans, he's a little bit mystified by it.

"My wife thinks it’s funny and I’m incredibly flattered," Tucci, told the Guardian. "I don’t get it but I’m glad. Who wouldn’t be glad? Hey, it took a long time."

Tucci is married to literary agent Felicity Blunt, who is the sister of his TheDevil Wears Prada co-star Emily Blunt.

Over the weekend, Tucci showed followers another example of why his social media is adored when he posted a video of himself attempting to fix his broken dishwasher. With a friend alongside him and his wife operating the camera, the actor attempted to unclog the machine by sucking the liquid out with a turkey baster.

"Wild Friday night," he captioned the video, adding a wrench and a vomit-face emoji.

"There's probably a piece of broken glass," Tucci can be heard explaining after attempting to fix the machine. Sporting an apron over his navy sweater and jeans, he expressed his disgust at the clogged contraption. "That's gross."

"This is a wild Friday night in," Blunt can be heard saying from behind the camera.

Back in March, Tucci spoke more in depth about the love he receives from fans.

"Who goes, 'I feel terrible about that'? People think I'm sexy? How awful," he told People. "It's wonderful. I don't get it, but I'm very glad."

After many years in the business as an actor, Tucci rose to superstardom back in 2020, after he posted a video of himself creating a Negroni cocktail on Instagram. Suddenly, his follower count skyrocketed. Best of all, the boost in popularity came by showing exactly who he is behind the scenes.

"It changed my life completely," Tucci continued. "All I had to do was be myself."

The Big Night star has faced his share of challenges, however. In 2017, he was diagnosed with cancer at the base of his tongue. While he's cancer-free these days, he says he never could have made it through the struggle without the "undying attention, affection and encouragement" from his wife.

The couple have two children, Emilia and Matteo, in addition to Tucci's three older children, Isabel, Nicolo and Camilla. Tucci lost his first wife, Kate Spath-Tucci, to breast cancer back in 2009.

Last year, the actor told CBS Sunday Morning that grief changes form as time goes on.

"You never stop grieving. You never stop grieving," said Tucci. "And it's still hard after 11 years, it's still hard, and it always will be hard. But you can't let it — and she would never want any of us to — sort of, to wallow in that grief and let it take over our lives. She would never want that. She wasn't like that."

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