“It was a tough time for me,” the comedian admitted in the premiere episode of his fourth season of ‘Hart to Heart’
Kevin Hart is clearing the air with Ben Affleck — who he claims may have robbed him of his PEOPLE’s Sexiest Man Alive throne over two decades ago!
In an exclusive first look at Hart’s conversation with the Air star, 51, during the premiere episode of the fourth season of Peacock’s Hart to Heart, Hart lets his guest know he “can’t sit up here and talk to you and not bring up” the missed accolade.
“The year that you got PEOPLE’s Sexiest Man Alive, I don’t even know if you know this or not, I was the runner up,” Hart, 44, joked. “It was a tough time for me, and I just want to make you aware of it.”
Back in 2002, when Affleck was celebrated for his charm on the cover of the Dec. 2 issue of PEOPLE, Hart had just made his film debut in Paper Soldiers and was on his way for a standout performance in Scary Movie 3 months later.
“Actually I knew that and they were like, ‘Listen, we’re gonna give it to Hart if you don’t take it,’” Affleck joked about the moment he found out about the magazine cover opportunity. “I was like, ‘F— it, I’ll take it.’”
“Yeah, well it was a s— show for me because they called me and I really prepared for life after,” Hart responded. “Life after Sexiest Man Alive.”
This isn’t the first time a star has reflected on their Sexiest Man Alive accolade. Back in April, Johnson looked back at his 2016 recognition, calling himself “the only one who has it in perpetuity.”
“The best part about it was that I got to go back home to Hawaii to shoot [the cover],” said Johnson, who spent his teen years in Honolulu. “I’m there on the beach — the mana, the spirit, the aloha spirit. I’m looking at our all-local crew: all our Polynesian boys and girls working hard. That was so cool.”
“I was kicked off the island, we were evicted as a family, because we couldn’t pay the rent,” he said. “So years later, to be able to go back to Hawaii and shoot Sexiest Man Alive? George Clooney, Patrick Swayze and then, years later, this big, bald, brown, tattooed guy? Thank you.”
Hart’s conversation with Affleck premieres on Thursday, June 20 on Peacock.
