Stanley Tucci jokes he has ‘no idea’ how he became a sex symbol: ‘People must have been desperate’

Stanley Tucci is still shocked and confused by his transformation from actor to foodie sex symbol during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I have no idea [how it happened],” he exclusively tells Page Six in a new interview, joking that “people must have been desperate is all I can say.”

“The Devil Wears Prada” star’s culinary and cocktail-making prowess delighted millions during lockdown in 2020, engendering some serious swooning.

Stanley Tucci is still confused about how he became a sex symbol. Getty Images The actor jokes to Page Six that “people must have been desperate.” WireImage

His newfound career led to an Emmy-winning CNN documentary series, “Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy,” and an upcoming memoir, “What I Ate in One Year: (and related thoughts),” which goes into detail on what he cooked and ate, along with appearances by a slew of bold-faced names like Harry Styles, Woody Harrelson and King Charles.

The “Hunger Games” actor has no regrets about the path his career has taken in the past few years, telling us his culinary skills seems to make people happy.

“That fact that I’m able to still go and do movies and all that stuff and television, it’s a nice mix,” he says.

The actor went viral for his culinary videos during the COVID-19 pandemic. stanleytucci/Instagram Tucci says he’s glad his kitchen skills make people happy.

In his new book, out Oct. 15, Tucci — who’s been married to Felicity Blunt since 2012 — talks a lot about his family and his health after revealing his cancer diagnosis in 2021.

Tucci quietly battled oral cancer in 2018 and had to use a feeding tube for six months as he underwent treatment.

He tells Page Six he’s doing “excellent” now and joked that there’s a “really great sense of irony” in temporarily losing his taste during the “brutal” battle.

Tucci shared his love of food and Italy in an Emmy-winning CNN docuseries. The Oscar nominee explores food and cooking in his new book. Amazo

At the time, he told Willie Geist it “took months and months and months for me to finally be able to eat again and then taste properly again.”

After battling cancer, Tucci — who shares 9-year-old Matteo and 6-year-old Millie with Blunt, as well as three adult children with his late wife — often thinks about his own mortality.

“I realized that when my youngest is 21, I’ll be 80 and that’s uncomfortable,” he explains. “So yeah, do I wish I were … as I think I said in the book, ‘I’d like to be 40 until they’re in their 20s and then let me age 2 years for every year.”

He adds, “That would be cool, but that’s not happening.”

Tucci’s wife, Felicity Blunt, is detailed throughout the memoir. stanleytucci/Instagram The couple, who married in 2012, share two young children. David M. Benett

However, these days, the actor doesn’t have much time to think about morbid things as he’s also promoting his new cookware line.

“It’s always something I’ve wanted to do,” he tells us. “My parents had really great taste and always talked about the cookware … I always wanted to design something.”

Tucci will be interviewed about his new book by his brother-in-law, John Krasinski, at Madison Square Garden on Oct. 15.