Paul Anthony Kelly Reacts to Internet Discourse About His Chest Hair in a ‘Time When Everyone Is Hairless’: ‘I Own It’

NEED TO KNOW

• Paul Anthony Kelly reacted to internet discourse about his chest hair in an interview published Feb. 24

• “I keep it au natural,” said Kelly, who plays John F. Kennedy Jr. in Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette

• Kelly also said that he owns his hairy chest “in a time when everyone is hairless and beefy and ripped and whatever”

Paul Anthony Kelly’s chest hair may be the talk of the internet, but he’s not just unbothered — he’s owning it.

In a new cover story for GQ Hype published Tuesday, Feb. 24, the model-turned-actor, 37, addressed the discourse surrounding his natural torso, which set social media ablaze after he debuted it in Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette.

Discussing the experience of being objectified — to the point where his personal grooming is the subject of online conversation — Kelly, who plays titular heartthrob John F. Kennedy Jr. in the FX limited series, told GQ, “Listen, there’s an ass for every saddle.”

“We live in a time when everyone is hairless and beefy and ripped and whatever,” he continued. But not him: “I keep it au natural.”

His experience as a model, Kelly told the outlet, “prepared” him in part to have his appearance picked apart.

“I have chest hair, I own it. I don’t really want to fit into anyone’s mold,” the actor told GQ. “I did that for so long being a model. I’ve definitely had to shave it down for shoots and whatever and fit that mold. But now I’m in the business of breaking that mold and creating my own…. Maybe being objectified a little bit as a model and perhaps held at a certain degree prepared me for what’s next.”

Kelly’s chest hair was even a component of how the actor — who just announced that he became a dad after welcoming his first child with wife Syd Widziszewski-Kelly — was cast as JFK Jr. (who also had visible chest hair), one of the Love Story executive producers previously told PEOPLE.

With just three weeks left before filming was set to begin, the team behind the series had yet to find the JFK Jr. to its Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, portrayed by Sarah Pidgeon. And part of the challenge was sourcing someone with a vintage swagger that is difficult to come by these days, according to producer Brad Simpson.

“Part of it was just that sort of ’80s, old school masculinity — a man with hair on his chest, sort of Richard Gere, Tom Selleck, the classic chiseled looks — we’re not making those guys anymore, for some reason,” the executive producer told PEOPLE, “and he really needed to have that.”

Plus, it didn’t help that the actor who fit the bill had to look just like JFK Jr. — who happened to be “one of the most handsome men in America.”

And Kelly didn’t always have that look, according to his GQ Hype profile, in which he revealed that he used to look more like a goth icon than the all-American heartthrob.

When he was first scouted to be a model at an American Apparel in Toronto, he recalled, “I had Robert Smith hair.”

“I used to just rat it out and make it all big and crazy. I wore eyeliner, and I was wearing the tightest jeans and pointy shoes I could find, and it was quite a look,” he continued of his appearance at the time. But the talent scouts, he added, “saw past it.”

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Inspired by Elizabeth Beller’s book, Once Upon a Time: The Captivating Life of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, Love Story “explores the undeniable chemistry, whirlwind courtship and high-profile marriage of one of the most iconic couples of the 20th century,” according to FX.

Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette is now streaming on Hulu. New episodes debut Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on FX and Hulu.

Read the original article on People