World Premiere Interview: Todd Sanfield

Todd Sanfield’s Body of Work

There are two subjects Todd Sanfield doesn’t divulge to interviewers; his age and his sexuality. Both omissions, he says, are for professional reasons. While I’m fairly certain most gay fans aren’t concerned about the super-man-model-turned-underwear-designer’s age, whom he sleeps with has sparked a lot of Internet speculation.

“I know how people are about models getting older,” he says, on subject number one. “Who cares. Some of the great guys are thirty-five.” As for what turns him on at night, Sanfield only makes his attitude clear. “If I say I’m gay they’re gonna say I’m straight. If I say I’m straight they’ll say I’m gay. I am what I am; it’s nobody’s business.”

The Michigan native and resident (he’s in grad school) does like to talk about photography, his underwear line, and, yes, that amazing butt that’s attracting so much attention it almost needs its own publicist.

“I didn’t realize that I had a butt until a couple of years ago,” Sanfield says, adding that a photographer pointed it out. “This guy who shoots all the best-looking dudes, the studs, said ‘You’ve got the best-looking ass.’ Damn, I do kind of like it. I actually do ass exercises.”

Sanfield doesn’t talk like there’s an agent coaching him on what to say, and he’s not beholden to the star-makers who’d probably prefer he leave the Midwest mindset behind.

“It doesn’t always work out the way you think,” Sanfield says on the route to model stardom. “I got my first fitness cover when I was twenty-two, then moved to New York. I’ve accomplished way more with the help of no agencies.  I kind of do my own thing.”

Sanfield’s own thing includes a line of underwear, which he designed himself and sells without affiliates. “I was always into design; I didn’t want to be a model. But you do what your friends say. What you’re told to do. It evolved into underwear because I’m always wearing swimwear and underwear in pictures.”

In case you’re wondering, or offering, Sanfield doesn’t design his briefs by cutting fabric around his torso or someone else’s. “I just have a vision,” he says, adding that he hopes to expand the line to department stores. “I piece it together. You either get it or you don’t. In the future, people will think ‘Man, I’ll look sweet in that underwear.’ Girls will say, ‘My husband or boyfriend will look great in that.’”

In the meantime, Sanfield’s embarking on a whole new set of photo-shoot adventures, and says it’ll be even hotter than his previous “DNA” spreads, the pictures that put his face, and the rest of him, on the world’s gaydar.
My inhibitions are gone,” says Sanfield. “I’m ready to shoot, like, super-sexual. It’s gonna add a whole new twist.”

Sanfield says that he enjoys posing nude (“I’m self-absorbed, but in a good way”), adding that “Anything’s fair game with me, as long as I’m not standing there with my penis hard, holding it straight up in the air. I don’t care if my cock’s hard and off to the left; I don’t give a shit. I walk that fine line between porno and sexy. You pick and choose, but you can’t just shoot with some random guy you meet on Model Mayhem.”

A lot of guys who get famous off of their looks resent the notion they’re not very smart, or that life is simpler because of good genes. Sanfield shares both sides of that story.  “Looks can be a curse. People are quick to judge you,” Sanfield says. “’Ah, he’s just a meathead,’” they’ll say. “Same with a girl. I was given something—looks. I don’t take it for granted or think I’m better than anyone.”

On the other hand, says Sanfield, after some prodding: “I don’t want to sound cocky, but yeah, I think I’m pretty fucking sexy.” So do we, Todd. And there’s nothing wrong with that!