“Could you be, the most beautiful girl in the world?” It’s something that Prince’s girlfriend no doubt hears all the time, but for most people sadly it’s a rarity. Not for this select band of women however, who have been declared People’s ‘Most Beautiful Person In The World’ in each of the last 10 years. The magazine names the person it thinks most beautiful each year, and over the years has named a variety of different stars the most beautiful women in the world (a man hasn’t won since Leonardo DiCaprio in 1998). So behold the indescribable loveliness of the most beautiful women in the world in this run down of the last 10 winners.
1. Sandra Bullock
Sandra Bullock became the latest winner of the award in April this year, with the star of Gravity and The Blind Side being named the world’s most beautiful person. The media was quick to declare it a milestone, due to Bullock being the oldest winner of the award to date. They declared this because the award has traditionally gone to actresses who’ve recently had significant roles and thus have been in the public eye. With Bullock being over fifty, the age at which actresses’ roles traditionally dry up, her roles in movies Gravity seem to indicate a shift in how older women are perceived in Hollywood.
Image source: Washingtonpost.com
2. Lupita Nyong’o
Lupita Nyong’o was another milestone winner of the award, as she became the first black African winner, having been raised in Kenya. The actress won acclaim for her role in 12 Years A Slave and the significance of the award was seen as it being given to a woman who didn’t fit into the traditional beauty standards of Hollywood. A variety of endorsement deals followed, as she became the face of fashion house Lancome. Nyong’o was also a popular winner due to her acclaim as an actress and her work behind the scenes on films as a writer and director.
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3. Gwyneth Paltrow
Gwyneth won the award in 2013, as the magazine honoured the Shakespeare In Love actress. There was as ever with Ms Paltrow, a bit of a backlash. This was particularly due to Paltrow’s promotion of extensive beauty regimes of the sort ordinary women would have no chance of emulating. Gwyneth wasn’t a popular winner as reporters slammed her as elitist. Not that Gwynnie was too upset, she said that she’d remain humble after the award, which after all, she hadn’t asked for.
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4. Beyonce Knowles
Beyonce was of course always going to be on this list – she has after all constantly topped or nearly topped polls of the world’s most beautiful and sexy women since her emergence as a star in the early 2000s. This 2012 award came at the end of an incredible few years for Bey, as with songs like Single Ladies and Halo she had cemented her status as one of the world’s biggest pop acts, married Jay-Z, given birth to daughter Blue Ivy and earned even more acclaim with fourth album 4. Oh and she headlined Glastonbury too. All while becoming officially the world’s most beautiful woman.
Image source: Rollingout.com
5. Jennifer Lopez
Like Beyonce it seems that Jennifer Lopez has been a staple of ‘most beautiful’ or ‘sexiest’ lists since, well, forever. In J-Lo’s case since the mid-1990s. There were only two surprises then in her being named the 2011 winner. Firstly that it had taken so long – one would have expected it to happen in the early 2000s when you couldn’t seem to go to a cinema or listen to a radio without bumping into Jenny from the Block, and that it didn’t go to Kate Middleton, as at the time the entire world was going Royal wedding bananas.
Image source: Rollingout.com
6. Julia Roberts
Julia Roberts won the award for an astonishing fourth time in 2010. To put that in context, only Michelle Pfeiffer has won the award once, and she won it just the twice. Having won in 1991, 2000, 2005 and in 2010 she also became the only woman to win the award in three different decades. Her 2010 win however was something of a surprise, given that the world was no longer in the grip of the Julia Roberts fever which seemed to be an epidemic from the late 1980s to early 2000s. Given how well she does among the People judges, we wouldn’t bet against her making it four decades in 2020.
Image source: DailyMail.co.uk
7. Christina Applegate
Christina Applegate rose to fame in the Fox sitcom Married…with Children which ran from 1987-97. She is perhaps best known to all of us though as Ron Burgundy’s put upon co-anchor Veronica Corningstone in Anchorman. The star was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008 and had a double mastectomy that year. Happily she was declared cancer free, with People declaring her the world’s most beautiful woman after her cancer battle. Having fully recovered the comedienne and actress reprised her role in the 2013 sequel to Anchorman.
Image source: Famefacts.com
8. Kate Hudson
Kate, the daughter of fellow actress Goldie Hawn, was awarded the title in 2008. Unfortunately for her, her star appears to have waned considerably since, with the kind of acclaim which brought her Academy Award nominations for roles like her one in Almost Famous now seeming a long way away. Perhaps this is because Hudson fell victim to the curse of the rom-com – appearing in a selection of undemanding but well paid roles in vaguely naff romantic comedies. All hope is not lost for Kate though, as her partner in crime in some of those, Matthew McConaughey, who starred with her in How To Lose A Guy In Ten Days and the abysmal Fool’s Gold, as since undergone a renaissance which has seen him win a Best Actor Oscar.
Image source: Rollingout.com
9. Drew Barrymore
It would appear at first that Drew Barrymore was a strange choice for 2007’s winner – even at the height of her fame as a Charlie’s Angel, Drew didn’t tend to top ‘sexiest’ lists like some of the other winners. Strange apart from the fact that everyone seems to be mildly in love with Barrymore. She just seems so nice, and extremely beautiful. After a troubled career as a child star, that approachability combined with stunning looks made her one of the most bankable movie stars of the 1990s and 2000s and a worthy winner of that year’s award.
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10. Angelina Jolie
Could you imagine this list without Angelina Jolie? No is the answer, and of course she was awarded the title in 2006 – just after publicly confirming her relationship with Brad Pitt. In many ways her could be seen as Hollywood’s version of a coup – as it was in many ways Jolie’s coronation as the new queen of Tinseltown, and the moment which she left her rebellious reputation behind to become the megastar we all know today. For evidence of this, look at the previous two winners before her – Julia Roberts, who Jolie replaced as its biggest name star, and Jennifer Aniston with whom her relationship is probably best left alone.
Image source: JustJared.com
