Pete Davidson has opened up about why he's so popular with women.
From Ariana Grande and Kim Kardashian to Kaia Gerber, Kate Beckinsale, and most recently, model Elsie Hewitt - Davidson’s dating history reads like a red carpet roll call.
And while some have long scratched their heads over how the former Saturday Night Live star manages to keep dating Hollywood’s most stunning women, Davidson is now offering an answer of his own.
At the 9th Annual Patrice O’Neal Comedy Benefit Concert in 2022, the 31-year-old comedian addressed the long-running fascination with his love life.
“There seems to be a curiosity about me, is what my friends tell me,” he said, per US Weekly. “I was trying to figure out how to explain myself to someone because I was doing an interview.”
The 31-year-old funnyman then compared himself to a surprise gem in a discount DVD bin. “I'm Tropic Thunder. I'm the diamond in the trash. It's a steal,” he joked, referring to the 2008 cult comedy classic. “It doesn't belong in the trash.”
And it turns out, dating professionals agree with him.
Relationship expert Amber Kelleher-Andrews believes that Davidson’s charm starts with his biggest strength: his sense of humor.
“He makes a career as a comedian, he's a funny guy,” she told the Daily Mail. “And it turns out that people really like people who can make them laugh and feel like they're having a good time.”
She added that it’s more than just good jokes - it’s science. “This is not a cliché. If you follow the science, research has proven that our attitude and state of mind is directly related to our overall health and wellness,” she explained. “The International Journal of Medical Sciences, for example, discovered when researching 730 participants between the ages of 18 and 39, that one can physically ‘laugh yourself into a healthier person.'"
“Similar studies have shown that laughter can improve a person’s lifespan by a whopping 20 percent,” she added.
But Kelleher-Andrews made it clear that being funny alone isn’t enough. She said many comedians come off as "arrogant, sarcastic, intimidating, and guarded,” but not Davidson. She described him as “comfortably charming” and “approachable.”
She also explained that women are drawn to his emotional honesty. “Pete Davidson wears his heart on his sleeve,” she explained. “He has been very open and candid about his difficult past, and because of this transparency women are drawn to his innocence."
"They want to 'help' him or 'fix' him. It is his cute puppy dog demeanor that gives him a genuine persona making him more relatable," she added.
Grande, who dated the comedian in 2018, once added fuel to the intrigue back in 2018 when a fan on X (formerly Twitter) asked her, “How long is Pete ???” - intending to ask about an interlude on her album Sweetener.
The '7 Rings' singer cheekily replied: “Like 10 inches?…. oh f***… I mean a little over a minute,” before quickly deleting the tweet, per PEOPLE. But by then, the internet had already done its thing.
For his part, Davidson has always been upfront about what turns him off in the dating world. On the River Café Table 4 podcast with Ruth Rogers, he said his go-to first date spots are restaurants or movie theaters because “Even if I’m a s**t date, it’s like, at least the food was great.”
However, there’s one thing he won’t tolerate: rudeness to staff. “In my head, I would be like: ‘Okay, never... this is it,’” he said. He even added that he ‘doesn’t like the excuse me.’ “It's like, just wait for the guy to walk by and then just lightly do it,” he said.
From being hilariously self-aware to brutally honest about what he wants, Davidson may not be everyone's type, but there's no doubt he's carved out a spot as Hollywood’s most unexpected heartthrob.