How many staggeringly good looking people do you know in real life?

[DuggeesWooOOooggle]

Just following on from my 'oh my god I've just discovered Richard Armitage' thread (and do watch North and South if you have not already done so!). Musing on how gorgeous he is got me thinking.

How many really good looking people do you know in real life? I'm not talking 'eye of the beholder' type beauty, but real, classical, can't argue with it beauty (male or female)? There's a girl works in our office who I think is just beautiful - she always looks so glamorous without being showy or too made up, long blond hair with a slight curl. Very elegant. She makes everyone else look like saggy puddings. And she's probably very nice too (doesn't work in my section, it's a big place).

It made me think how very few people I know or even see like this on a daily basis - most people are just very average looking (myself included!). I can't remember the last time I saw a really handsome man. I do remember a chap I saw across a bar when I was about 22, with the most amazing cheekbones. He was just beautiful. Not in a fancying kind of way, just in a 'I could look at you for hours' kind of way. But I genuinely can't think of any since. Plenty of men I have found sexy but that's different, the two don't always overlap.

I'm probably not explaining myself very well. Maybe I just move in the wrong circles! Maybe they are all celebrities these days.

There was a girl at my uni who was very beautiful. She has done some tv acting and when I first saw her on screen I was amazed at how normal she looked. Makes me think the people who look stunning on screen must look even more incredible in real life.

I agree that gal gadot is a goddess. And I've never seen the attraction of george clooney - looks wise or personality wise.

Having seen how people act around very beautiful people, I do think it would be a curse. The most beautiful women seem to end up with horrible men a lot of the time who treat them like trophies. They also seem to be the most insecure about their looks because everyone attaches such weight to them. I don't say this with any glee - I really don't envy it. If only my insecure teenage self had known all this...

I think it would probably be better to be, say, top 10% for looks or 5% than to be really exceptional.

Still much worse to be ugly though.

My beautiful male friend definitely benefits from being so attractive! He gets out of scrapes and given loads of free stuff. Although he does also get propositioned by total strangers for gay threesomes so I guess there’s that.

Cat walk models - especially in more recent times - are not conventionally beautiful but they will be tall and be arresting in some other way. The scouts know what they are looking for and it is rarely beauty as the average person sees it.

Makes me think the people who look stunning on screen must look even more incredible in real life.

Sometimes it's the opposite. As I mentioned before, when you see those 'stars without make-up' pics, very often even the greatest beauties aren't all that without professional make-up, hair and designer outfits. I've seen pictures of Gal Gadot off-duty and while she's still very attractive, I don't think I'd look twice at her, let alone stare at her like I do in her professional pics.

Having seen how people act around very beautiful people, I do think it would be a curse.

But if beauty is a 'curse', it's a very easy one to deal with. Even the most gorgeous person can make themselves look fairly unremarkable if they want. Usually no make-up, unstyled hair and unflattering clothes will do it. But for all we might hear about what a burden it is to be beautiful, very few beautiful people try to make themselves ugly, while the reverse happens all the time.

The guy I met while at uni did find it a burden. I'm not sure what he could have done physically to tone his beauty down. However, the fact that people would throw themselves at him did make him behave oddly. He always acted like a total jerk when he first met someone because then he would know that if they liked him, they were judging him purely by his looks. I thought he was a dick when I first met him and totally ignored him within the group (apart from a few surreptitious glances) so he let his guard down after a while. He's a nice guy.

Sounds extreme, but it does show that it can be a pressure to some.

None. I know a fair few good looking people but no ‘staggeringly’ good looking people (not to my eyes, anyway).

I don’t get the Richard Armitage thing. He’s not ugly, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t think he’s as wonderful as his MN following would have us believe.

The guy I met while at uni did find it a burden. I'm not sure what he could have done physically to tone his beauty down.

Grow a beard?

Shave his head?

Wear really ugly specs?

All of the above?

Really, nobody is SO gorgeous that they can't play down their looks if they want.

Sounds extreme, but it does show that it can be a pressure to some

Well yes, I'm sure that there is a downside to extreme beauty, just like there is a downside to extreme wealth. But the disadvantages are very, very much outweighed by the advantages. And just as rich people can make themselves poor if they choose, so too beautiful people can make themselves plain. But they don't choose.

In any case, once they hit middle age this terrible burden will be lifted and they will have plenty of time to enjoy all the benefits of being ordinary like the rest of us.

My DH was head turningly beautiful when I met him in his mid 20s. He's still pretty good in his mid 50s. He's also very kind and very charming; I think life has been so good to him he's never developed any kind of nasty streak.

I myself come from a family of very pretty women but I'm fairly ordinary. I think DH realised very young that he could have anyone he wanted so went for something other than looks. We have always been great friends.

And yes, lots of women and gay men have always got very silly around him and subtly, or not so subtly, tried to elbow me out. I think it's pretty rude. One of his friend's wives is blatantly (to my eyes) besotted with him. I find her behaviour extremely irritating, to the extent that I vented to my grown up daughter. She finds it hilarious that I would even be bothered because he is pretty oblivious and has never ever had his head turned.

My bin man is drop dead gorgeous! I nearly fell over when I first saw him. He has piercing blue eyes and thick black lashes with slightly olive skin, Irish looking if that makes any sense. Beautiful.

When I saw him I was wearing my long green nightie and I was at my very morning worst.

I could live with the burden of extreme beauty and great wealth.

I would bear up under the strain with stoicism.

@thighofrelief

I am average person next door that gets ignored in the street, men don't notice me either. Yet I model (plus size) and look half decent in photos. It's weird. And some people are stunning and look completely different on camera
My recent pic in a magazine looks nothing like I do in the morning before coffee 😂😂😂

For a short time I worked with this man.

I remember him still, 20 years later.

I don’t think the picture attached.

Chester. Good looking bloke but I don’t like his voice 😔

None, know many very very pretty people but none that bowl me over. Used to know a woman who could be a model but even she had her flaws.

@redexpat funnily enough, many countries consider British women to be an ugly population... but it's not particularly helpful to point it out to a bunch of British people

One, a girl I used to volunteer with. She was just, imo, perfect. Olive skin, dark hair, dark eyes and just the most beautiful soul too

Chester I don't know who that guy is but he freaks me out! I don't find him beautiful at all.

I can think of four that I know. One is the son of a friend of mine, another is my dd (she doesn't take after me ), one is an old work colleague, and another is quite famous, I know him via a friend, he's her BIL.

@TheWiseWomansFear It's not just women. And frankly I would rather find out about it on an online forum than during a Sophie Hagen gig in Denmark with all the Danes around me laughing and nodding and me sitting in the middle looking all around with this look on my face. I felt like an absolute fool and it wasnt a pleasant experience. The rest of the gig was good though.

And I think it's really unfair. There are ugly people in Denmark too. I think the difference is theyre better dressed. Jeans and a shirt or t shirt will always look better than tracksuit bottoms and a hoody.

One, a school friend. Was beautiful at school and still is now approaching 40. Beautiful skin, hair, teeth, cheekbones, very understated, rarely wears make up. Lovely person too. I think men were often intimidated by her and her lovely DH is, IMO, quite average looks-wise but a very attractive person as he is so funny, relaxed and caring.

Don’t see it with RA. Jon Kortajanera, on the other hand...

JaneJeffer

Chester I don't know who that guy is but he freaks me out! I don't find him beautiful at all.

Seconded. Nooooo

Undeniably beautiful...
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Hard to find many even in film land!