Who is the most handsome man in the world and why was he imprisoned?

2 hours ago

There is a concept of a "handsome actor" — when you hear this phrase, a specific image appears in your mind, but Paing Takhon absolutely does not fit into this imagination. Although he is barely over twenty years old, he has already managed to walk the runway, star in movies, go to a Buddhist monastery and return from there, take to the streets with a protest placard during a military coup, and get arrested.

Paing Takhon was born in 1996 in the small town of Kawthaung in southern Myanmar, the fourth of six children in the family. After finishing school, he headed to the country's largest city, Yangon, in hopes of a better life: there were more opportunities there, so it was worth trying his luck.

At the age of 18, he was admitted to John Lwin's modeling school: he learned to pose for photos and walk the runway, and very quickly stood out. John Lwin’s Star & Model International agency immediately offered him a partnership. His long hair and muscular physique made him a memorable, unique figure.

Commercials, music videos, magazine shoots — his career developed very rapidly. After being invited to try his hand at acting as well, he passed the casting for the lead role in the film "Midnight Traveller" and became known as an actor in 2017. At the same time, Paing also began to pursue music: he had turned 21, and his social media pages were followed by more than two million people from various countries. The government of Myanmar appointed him a cultural ambassador.

In the TC Candler ranking, he first appeared in tenth place in 2020: this was not a bad result, but it was not yet the peak.

In early 2021, photos of him with a shaved head, surrounded by Buddhist monks, appeared on the internet. Fans became worried — various rumors spread.

In reality, he had simply decided to spend two weeks in a monastery — fasting, prayer, meditation, and full immersion in the monks' lifestyle became his way of taking a breather and restoring himself. Upon his return, he went back to the runway, but he could not truly catch his breath.

On February 2, 2021, a military coup took place in Myanmar: the army seized power, State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi was arrested, and people took to the streets. Paing Takhon went out with them. He openly condemned the coup, wrote appeals on social media, and called for the recognition of citizens' right to choose their own government.

At five o'clock in the morning on April 8, 2021, the military arrived at his mother's house in the North Dagon district. They took him away along with his phone: his social media pages were deleted that very day, and the court sentenced him to three years of imprisonment and hard labor. Around that time, TC Candler announced the results of its next vote. Paing Takhon, who was behind bars at that moment, was recognized as the most handsome man on the planet for 2021.

Neither his relatives' attempts to free him nor his fans' appeals to the Myanmar government yielded any results. What happened to him behind prison walls and under what conditions he was held remained unknown. Currently, Paing continues to run his social media accounts and gathers thousands of comments under each new photo.