I am someone who has been standing on my soap box, screaming about the lack of chest hair in media. The Marvel Cinematic Universe erased it, movies don’t want buff actors to have it, and now it is finally getting the calling out from Hollywood it deserves thanks to John F. Kennedy Jr.
The new series Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette follows Kennedy (Paul Anthony Kelly) and the tragic love story between him and Carolyn Bessette (Sarah Pidgeon). When talking about the show, executives realized an issue they were facing when it came to casting: No one has chest hair anymore.
If you grew up as I did (meaning your mother was also obsessed with the Kennedy family and JFK Jr. especially), then you know that JFK Jr.’s sex appeal was often connected to his full head of hair and his very full, rich chest of hair. Which goes back to my original point: LET CHEST HAIR LIVE! I digress, but it did mean that they turned to casting an unlikely unknown to fit the chest hair bill.
Brad Simpson, one of the series’ executive producers, spoke with Variety about the casting process and explained why it was hard to find the right chest for the job. “We live in a world,” Simpson said, “where chest hair has somehow disappeared.”
Luckily, Kelly wasn’t overwhelmed by the idea of playing Kennedy because he is from a town near Ontario, Canada and didn’t grow up with the infamous American family. “It lent to my nervousness and intimidation, playing royalty,” he says. The family hadn’t meant much to him before he got the part: “It’s not in my life — it is now, but it wasn’t growing up. It wasn’t so close to my heart.”
Bring back chest hair
I have been very vocal about the need to allow chest hair to thrive. For whatever reason, the idea of a shirtless man has been tied to a smooth chest. That’s not something that I, a straight woman, supports but also maybe I’m in a minority? Or maybe we let men decide what is “attractive” with shirtless men.
Whatever the case is, I do like that Simpson and company have realized that part of the post-MCU problem with shirtless men is a lack of chest hair. Finally, someone on my side.
(featured image: FX)
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