Alden Richards, Maine Mendoza Bumps Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach From ‘YES!’ Cover, Tops 2016 ‘100 Most Beautiful Stars’ List

Imagine You and Me stars Alden Richards and Maine Mendoza topped YES! magazine’s Most Beautiful Stars list for 2016. In 2015, Queen of All Media, Kris Aquino, sister of former Philippine president Noynoy Aquino, graced the cover of the magazine.

In an interview with Pep, Alden Richards and Maine Mendoza shared that they were both surprised to find out that AlDub was chosen to be on this year’s cover. While Richards had been part of the Most Beautiful Stars list since he started showbiz, this will be the first time that he will be front and center. He described topping the list as a dream come true.

“I’ve been in YES! Magazine’s 100 Most Beautiful for six years since I started [in showbiz]. This is the perfect time to cover since Maine and I met. This is the perfect time to be the cover of 100 Most Beautiful,” Richards said.

Mendoza, who recently celebrated her first year in the industry, was stunned when she found out that she will be on the 2016 cover. She pointed out that she did not expect it given how she was always asked to put on silly faces in front of the camera.

“Am I even beautiful in the first place?” she wondered.

Though she described herself as “confidently beautiful,” Maine Mendoza said that she still has a hard time convincing herself that she is good looking. The Imagine You and Me star previously admitted to having low self-esteem growing up. Even after having millions of fans, Mendoza shared that she still has insecurities about her physical appearance.

While they are thrilled to be part of the list, the Eat Bulaga! hosts insisted that beauty is still only skin deep. Mendoza shared that what is on the inside is still far more important than appearance.

“For me being beautiful is not about the physical appearance at all. It’s more on what is inside. If you are a good person, if you are a genuine person, if you have good intentions—[that’s the] definition of beautiful for me… It’s all about the kind of person you are.”

Richards also believed that cultivating relationships is very important. More than his looks, he wanted people to remember him for all the good things he has done for them.

“You’re a beautiful person if you are able to establish relationships that are worth your while,” he said.

Jo-Ann Maglipon, YES! magazine’s Editor-in-Chief, revealed that Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach expressed interest on gracing the cover.

“I thought it was a joke at first,” Maglipon recalled.

The editorial team reportedly was set on having Alden Richards and Maine Mendoza on the cover of Most Beautiful Stars 2016, but had to think it through when they heard about Wurtzbach’s request. It was, however, an easy decision to make. Though Wurtzbach was crowned as the most beautiful woman in the universe, everyone wanted to see more of AlDub.

“The staff determines who is in the cover, who is inside. Everyone in the staff uniformly wanted Alden and Maine.”

According to Interaksyon, the list is made up of celebrities who had the “most positive impact” on people in the past year. In her editor’s note, Maglipin compared Richards and Mendoza’s chemistry to that of Nora Aunor and Tirzo Cruz III back in the 70s. She added that the AlDub phenomenon is an “an accident so welcome to so many who wanted romance and innocence and freshness back.”

“They hadn’t even met, except for the one time she, as a fan, posed with him for a souvenir shot, nor they had known a thing about the other, except for the fact that she’s long had a crush on him from afar,” she wrote.

[Image via Instagram]