Burt Reynolds’s 1972 centerfoldin Cosmopolitan was, simply put, a major moment in pop culture. It was our magazine’s—any magazine’s—first time featuring a man in that kind of spread, and it cemented Burt’s status as one of America’s sexiest men. In homage, we’re continuing the Cosmo Centerfold series, in which we showcase the hottest celebs of our time. You’ll have to pick up an actual Cosmo to see it in the flesh. Enjoy!
If you tell pretty much anyone you are about to interview Tyriq Withers, the first thing they’ll say is, “Oh, he is really hot.” Considering the actor’s reputation for hotness precedes him, you might expect the 27-year-old to be all swagger, no soul. But as the Hollywood heartthrob himself reminds me over breakfast at the Bowery Hotel, looks can be deceiving.
A Cancer and self-described “loverboy,” the Florida native’s boy-next-door humility appears untouched by his burgeoning fame when he first greets me with a hug and slides into our corner booth, where he deliberates between pancakes and a BEC, ultimately ordering both. Despite being on the brink of full-fledged superstardom, the 6'5" actor (“Well, I say ‘six-foot-too-damn-tall,’” he quips) quickly proves both charmingly self-effacing and effortlessly genuine.
“People see the exterior and they assume you have everything together,” says the Reminders of Him star, who plays Ledger Ward in this spring’s adaptation of the Colleen Hoover novel. “I think when you look at Ledger, you assume he’s a tough guy. But he’s just a soft, sensitive boy—because that’s what we all are.”
Tyriq, who describes himself as someone who is “drawn to the vulnerability of human connection, the sharing of emotions,” is clearly no exception: a man who, despite his intimidating stature and leading man looks, is clearly in touch with his own soft side.
The most delightfully disarming thing about Tyriq though—the thing that makes breakfast with him feel less like interviewing a movie star and more like goofing off with a “soft, sensitive boy” who just happens to have a jawline that could cut diamonds—is his laugh. Tyriq “gets giggly,” as he puts it, when I ask him what it’s like to be “a famously hot man” and when I refer to him as his latest film’s “romantic lead.” After admitting he tends to lean on humor when he’s uncomfortable—“especially in intimate moments”—he laughs again.
But if Tyriq laughs to deflect discomfort, it doesn’t stop him from getting vulnerable. As willing to get into it as he is to smile, the star opened up about everything from body image struggles to what it’s like to date as a famously hot man whose fame doesn’t quite seem to have hit him yet. Before you read our conversation, just be warned: If you didn’t have a crush on him already…you’re about to.
Cosmo Centerfold is where we spotlight, for lack of a less objectifying term, a hot man. So I have been dying to ask you: What is it like to be a Famously Hot Man?
[laughs] I appreciate it. That’s a great question. Shoutout to my mom and dad? You know, they did the damn thing. But no, I don’t know. I just kind of, like, detach. I’m thankful that people find me attractive. But some people find me not attractive!
From a young age, I think women are raised to be very aware of our appearance and how we do or do not meet certain beauty standards. I’m curious what that’s like from the male perspective. Was there a time or a moment in your life where you became more aware of your appearance?
I think the moment everything started to shift for me was when I realized I was going to have to take my shirt off on camera for a movie. It caused this, like, body dysmorphia. I became hyperfixated on the little things about my body. There are times when I don’t want to go to the beach because I don’t feel like taking my shirt off. There are times when I dread taking a shower because I don’t want to take off my clothes and, like, look at my body, you know? So I think that’s a recent thing, when the work I tapped into started to really put me in those circumstances where my looks are, like, a thing.
You’re shooting for the centerfold later today, right? Do you like doing photo shoots?
I love them, but they always stress me out. I think it’s very difficult to model. But I’m starting to realize that just bringing personality to a photo shoot is the best way to tackle it because nobody can be you better than you. And that’s the secret ingredient. But yeah, anything that stresses me out, I kind of enjoy. Because if it makes me uncomfortable, then I’m doing something right.
Speaking of uncomfortable, you told GQ a story about your “worst date ever,” where it seems like you went above and beyond to impress a date—
[laughs] I won’t do that again!
In general, do you feel like that’s reflective of the energy you bring to your dating life? Are you the kind of person who really likes to impress a date?
Yeah! Who doesn’t, you know? I think it’s a cute thing to always try to impress anybody you’re interested in. I think that looks all types of different ways. You know, like picking them up for a date. I’m not picking you up in my 2013 Hyundai Elantra though, so we can Uber Black. [laughs]
Do you kiss on a first date?
I wouldn’t say never, but the ball is in her court. I’ve been called so passive. I’ve never, like, leaned in and we just kiss like that. I don’t know how people do that. I always just ask out loud. Like, “This is awkward, but I need to hear it from you.” I’ve been kissed [on the first date], and that’s been lovely.
Do you like dating?
Do I? Oh my god. Yes and no. I like dating the right person. But it gets expensive—and not even financially. It’s expensive, like, on my heart and mental state. So I’m just kind of chilling. We can hang out in group settings, do karaoke, go, like, wrestle pigs.
Wrestle pigs?
I’m waiting for a girl to be like, “Let’s go paintballing.” Because I hate paintballing, but, like—
Wait, you hate paintballing, but you want to be invited to do it on a date?
Yeah! I like weird shit. I’m, like, date-fishing. Put this in the article so people ask me out.
Do you want to be asked on a date? Like, do you like being approached?
I think it’s hot! I start blushing.
So you are currently single?
The only relationship I’m in is my relationship with God. So I am always with God and very much intimately single.
If someone slid into your DMs, would you consider going out with them?
Yeah, I think that’s so bold. But it has to be the right person. I don’t really slide into DMs, I never know what to say. Oh, I went on a first date—this is a good one—and this was somebody who has been in the industry for a while, right? This was a couple years ago. And then on the date, she was like, “Oh, I gotta follow you on Instagram.” She followed me and then went to the DMs and I had DMed her, like, five years before.
That’s so funny. Did you remember that you’d done that?
No! She read it out loud at the table. It was like three sentences, it was something like, “Hey, before 2017 ends, I just couldn’t close the year out without letting you know how gorgeous you are.” Something along those lines. And I just sat there and I turned so red. Anyway, this is why I don’t slide into the DMs: Because they live forever.
Do you feel like you’re at a point now where you’ve noticed a difference between dating pre-fame vs. post-fame?
I haven’t really dated post-fame. I don’t even view it as…it’s so mind-blowing to me that people have seen my work and, like, get excited about my work. I don’t even think I have fame. I don’t know, it’s weird. But I’m excited to see how that is.
Would you want to be set up by a friend?
Any friend that wants to find me love is a friend for life. You know, I’m seeing all my friends getting engaged and in relationships. Three of my friends just got engaged. I just got a wedding invite. I’m like, “I gotta get younger friends.” [laughs] They’re all in their 30s, settling down. I’m like, “Cool, cool, cool.”
It’s that late-20s divide where if you’re living in a city like L.A. or New York, everyone is single and forever 21, but then all of your friends back home are, like, married and buying homes.
Yeah, exactly. I knew it was time when I opened Instagram and saw one of my first crushes from middle school got married. I was like, “Well, it’s time to find love out here.” [laughs]
Do you feel like you want to be in a relationship right now?
Whenever love finds me. I’m such a relationship-oriented person. I yearn—and that is my superpower but also my biggest flaw. I am a loverboy. I’m a Cancer, so you know how we get. I’m not interested in surface-level things. On a date, I’m like, “What sets your soul on fire?” [laughs] I’m just looking for love. But when you tap into self-love, then love finds you.
How do you know when you’re in love?
Have I ever been in love? That’s the question.
Have you?
I thought I was in love, so I don’t know. I think love is a feeling, right? It’s like a soul connection. I know I feel love—or am in love—when I just want to protect this person at all costs, protect their heart. I think I know I’m in love when I give you the last bite of my pumpkin pie, because that’s my favorite. I think when love happens…it’s a spectrum, right? I think you build that love over time. And I think love looks like so many different things. It looks like the last bite; it looks like learning their hobbies. I love seeing the joy they have in the things they do and I get joy out of seeing them experience joy. I think that’s when I know I’m in love: I yearn for their joy. Like, how can I bring them joy in all facets? Oh, I know I’m in love when I baby-talk. Like, when I don’t feel weird baby-talking to a person.
In what way? Like, give me an example.
You want me to do an example? Like a voice memo? [laughs] You ever see those videos where this guy’s, like, kind of baby-talking to his girl and she’s secretly recording him? And he looks up and sees the camera, and he’s like, “Oh no.” That’s me. I just love the intimacy of something you experience with your person that not the whole world gets to see. Who can we be soft around? You have to be tough and put on this armor when you go out into the world. But who can I come home and be soft with and talk about my feelings [with] and talk things through? I think that’s what I look for in relationships: Where can I take off this veneer of being confident and be the true, authentic self that I want to be?
Lead image: Shirt Dolce & Gabbana, shorts Clementine, socks Falke, necklace İTÄ, ring (worn as pendant) Eliburch Jewelry, watch Piaget.
Styled by Brandon Tan. Grooming by Laila Hayani at Forward Artists.
