Ted Danson Was Shocked Women Found Him Attractive on 'Cheers': 'You Mean Me?'

Ted Danson can't believe women found him attractive on Cheers.

The actor, 78, made the confession on his "Where Everybody Knows Your Name" podcast on May 27, when guest, Abbott Elementary star Lisa Ann Walter, flipped it around and asked him, “What happened when you figured out what a hottie you were?”

Danson responded, "I won't go back too far because it's not necessary, but I was the guy who literally I would be, the woman would be standing opposite me naked and I'd be going 'What?' I'd look over my shoulder and be like, 'You mean me?' Literally, it took me until the second year of Cheers when I decided, 'You know what? Keep your mouth shut, Ted.'"

Whenever “somebody would say something” about being a "s-- symbol," he would begin fighting back but would catch himself, saying, "I’d have to swallow it.”

When anyone would compliment him and tell him “you’re so s--- and so funny,” he said it was because the show hired “very s--y-looking women to look at Sam Malone and go, ‘Wow, he’s s---.'”

“I got that mantle and I finally learned to keep my mouth shut,” he said.

Although he may not have agreed, Walter told him “you were selling it,” and it wasn’t just about “the women they put around you.”

Cheers aired from 1982-1993 and also starred Rhea Perlman, the late George Wendt, John Ratzenberger, Woody Harrelson, the late Kirstie Alley and Kelsey Grammer. The bar-based sitcom ended after 11 seasons when executives canceled the show because Danson left the show to pursue other opportunities.

"I was changing for the better and working really hard at that, so I thought, ‘Might as well jump completely off the cliff,'" Danson said during an August 2025 podcast episode. "And [there was] a little bit of … ‘If I don’t leave now, I may not know if I could do anything else, and I want to see if I can do any other stuff.'"

Danson wed actress Mary Steenburgen in 1995.

He is dad to Kate Danson, 46, and Alexis Danson, 40, whose mom is Cassandra Coates. The couple was married from 1977-1993.

He appeared in movies including 1998's Saving Private Ryan and 2008's Mad Money with Katie Holmes, the late Diane Keaton and Queen Latifah.

He starred on TV shows including Becker from 1998-2004, and The Good Place from 2016-2020.