Ten years ago, the Jonas Brothers were the biggest band in the world, with a No. 1 album, a Disney Channel TV show and high-profile romances with celebrities like Taylor Swift (Joe) and Miley Cyrus (Nick). Today, itâs JoBro dĂŠjĂ vu: Theyâve got a No. 1 album with the biggest single-week sales of the year, a surprisingly good Amazon documentary and celebrity marriages to Priyanka Chopra (Nick) and Sophie Turner (Joe). Theyâre the same boy band you remember: Nick still has a penchant for too-tight suits; Joe remains a lovable goofball.
One thing has changed, though, besides the brothers’ tendency to flat-iron their hair: Kevin Jonas, the eldest, is a major DILF.
Here he was then:
Why is no one discussing the fact that ugly 2009 Kevin Jonas is Frankie Jonas' Avi pic.twitter.com/k3bW67y8IL
— kath (@lesbianoverlord) November 18, 2015
And now:
Happy Fatherâs Day @kevinjonas!! pic.twitter.com/99P0xDWM00
— Jonas Brothers (@jonasbrothers) June 16, 2019
Can we just take a minute to appreciate Kevin Jonasâ glow up đ pic.twitter.com/cytLjRBtBx
— Abbyđť (@awitkosky) March 6, 2019
Itâs been a long journey for Kevin, now 31 and a father of two. When the Jonas Brothers first got big, guitarist Kevin was cursed with the Isaac Hanson role: aloof and quiet, not as cute as the youngest brother and not as hot as the middle one. After Nick broke up the band in 2013, Kevin retreated back to New Jersey and raised his two girls, Valentina and Alena, with his non-celebrity wife, Danielle, who was a New Jersey hairdresser when she met Kevin in 2007. For six years, while his brothers embarked on solo careers, Kevin quietly crafted an enviable life. He built a few houses as a contractor, honed his dad skills and seriously bulked up (look at those arms!).
Tonight was very fun. Penn State thank you. đ pic.twitter.com/lC9ZJOBQl4
— Nick Jonas (@nickjonas) April 6, 2019
The last decade has been more than kind to Kevin’s appearance, weathering his face into something serious, scruffier and more chiseled than ever. Iâm not the only one whoâs realized it. âMaybe back then we were too focused on Nickâs cute curls and Joeâs funny jokes to notice Kevinâs adorable baby face,â says Astrid, a 20-year-old JoBros fan from Spain. âBut now, seeing how extremely both cute and hot Kevin looks with his children⌠wow. Literally, a dream.â
okay how do i say this……. somehow…….. i find kevin jonas hot now…… is this what maturity feels like?
— astrid (@cherryrecordss) June 6, 2019
kevin jonas â the most genuine human being, guitar hero, king of memes, could probably crush me with his biceps, and the sweetest family man. pic.twitter.com/VUyKP7WwMg
— Jasâˇđ§ľ (@insepxrabIe) May 27, 2019
Kevinâs journey to DILFness wasnât so smooth. Luckily, he started out strong and snagged an E! reality show, Married to Jonas, immediately after the band broke up. For two seasons, Kevin and Danielle epitomized mundane life in suburban New Jersey. âI had to get to a place where I could say, like, âformerly of the Jonas Brothers,ââ Kevin says in the documentary (Chasing Happiness) while footage plays of him picking up size-four diapers, making waffle breakfasts and playing pretend guitar with his daughter.
Just as Kevinâs family-man persona solidified, however, his show was canceled after two seasons. He went on to make brief appearances on Real Housewives of New Jersey and competed on Season Seven of The Celebrity Apprentice. (He was the second contestant to go home.) From 2014 to 2017, Kevin spent most days running a now seemingly defunct home construction business and getting stopped by confused fans in store parking lots. âI get asked if Iâm Joe or Nick every day. âNo, Iâm Kevin,ââ he says in the doc.
But seeing Kevin as a parent â not a boy-band member â turned out to be an unexpected turn-on for longtime Jonas fans. âAny attractive man holding a child is a DILF,â explains Jessica, a 22-year-old New Yorker. Astrid, the fan from Spain, adds, “Kevin couldâve gone and tried to keep [going in] the music world, but he made it clear that he wanted a family and focused on it 100 percent. Thatâs adorable â heâs literally made it his job to be the best dad for his girls.”
Nick and Joeâs unexpected betrayal put even more fans on Team Kevin. In Chasing Happiness, Kevin reveals that his grade school classmates bullied him for âodd extracurricular activitiesâ like gymnastics and magic.
I didnât fit in growing up. The names kids called me were terrible & used in derogatory ways. Bullying is a problem that people of all ages, races, genders, & sexualities face. I hope sharing my experience brings awareness to how hurtful bullying can be. #ChasingHappiness pic.twitter.com/OS5JZe6rKp
— kevin jonas (@kevinjonas) June 3, 2019
The same trauma resurfaced in 2013 when Kevinâs brothers ditched him to perform as a duo mere days after the band broke up. âWe felt like you were holding us back,â Joe tells Kevin in the doc.
âThey sent a message that they didnât need him for the Jonas Brothers,â says Cat, a 22-year-old from Dallas. She has a newfound empathy for Kevin after hearing his side of the story. âHe accepted his role in a dimmed spotlight for so many years. I respect him a lot more now. I understand him more.â
Kevinâs life kicked back into high gear last June when the three brothers met up for a boozy Australian vacation. They had reunited to film their documentary, which sparked a plan to give the Jonas Brothers another shot. They all had their reasons: Joe was ready to go back to his biggest success, and Nick needed to reconnect with his roots.
Kevin wanted to prove he still had it.
At the ripe old age of 31, the eldest Jonas felt washed up. To make it worse, his daughters had never seen him perform. âBeing able to see her in that audience see me do what I did best for so long. And she knows me as her dad. She doesnât know the person that was great,â he says of his youngest one, Alena.
Love this so much â¤ď¸ pic.twitter.com/nA3qmHQ15q
— kevin jonas (@kevinjonas) June 12, 2019
Then thereâs Kevinâs honesty and openness about his depression, a major contributor to his DILF appeal. Heâs a proud modern-day softboy. âItâs obvious Kevin will be the one to thrive in his old age because he has an old soul,â says Beth, a 19-year-old fashion student in London. âIt was OBVIOUS he was the least popular of the trio, but he didnât seem to care. And that innocence has stayed with him.â
Doesnât this, though, all kinda make Kevin the fandom equivalent of a pity fuck? The celebrity equivalent of a sad puppy dog? âSome major points there. I can absolutely see you. It just must be a combination of both,â Beth concedes.
watching the new jonas brothers documentary convinced me that kevin is hot. i love controversy
— sol (@bethlenciaga) June 10, 2019
But not everyone is into the sensitive-brooding-dad image. âI need to see more of his personality come out. Heâs definitely not unattractive, but thereâs not much that makes me think heâs different from anyone else,â says Elle, a 22-year-old from Chicago, who calls Kevin ânormal AF.â
It doesnât help that Kevinâs comeback notably has him on the sidelines. Heâs always been a guitar player first and singer second. But of the bandâs many boisterous talk show performances this year (in which the brothers often discuss their families and wives, âThe J Sistersâ), Kevin rarely gets a mic stand. Meanwhile, Nick and Joe ping-pong back and forth, singing almost every verse. If not for their shared penchant for autumnal suits and curly hairstyles, Kevin would look like any other member of the band.
Then again, few Jonas Brothers fans ever preferred Kevinâs singing. âBackup vocals have always been his thing,â says Rosie, a 24-year-old OG fan from Chicago. âHe doesnât need to compete. They all bring their own element. Earth, wind [and] fire, baby.â If Joe, with his mile-a-minute self-deprecating jokes, is wind, and Nick, with that buff bod, is fire, then Kevin is earth: solid and supportive, but too often taken for granted.
Luckily for Kevin, weâre in need of a new normcore celebrity DILF. Chris Pratt â a former dad-bod goofball turned ripped leading man â is suddenly a Hillsong Church evangelical and newly married Schwarzenegger while beloved daddy Idris Elba (father to Isan, 17) is ridiculously hot but inaccessible â just not a guy most of us could conceivably get with.
Kevin has the qualifications to become the Ăźber-DILF â the hot dad of our time. âHe’d be considered hot outside of his comparison to Joe and Nick,â says Greg, a 30-year-old from Nashville. âGreat sense of humor, a quietness that brings about an air of mysteriousness, good facial hair (thatâs key) and the right amount of muscles.â Anthony, a 22-year-old in Washington, D.C., is more blunt: âIâm a white manâs whore.â
In 2019, itâs time to recognize Kevin for who he truly is: Daddy Jonas.