Sully says 'rock star sex' was his reward for heroics

Who knew Sully could be so sexy?

Capt. Chesley Sullenberger, the quick-thinking pilot who became an international hero after he saved the lives of 155 passengers when he safely ditched his plane in the Hudson River last January, has reaped an unexpected benefit: “Rock star sex.”

That’s how Sullenberger, who was interviewed Monday by Matt Lauer for NBC’s “People of the Year” TV show described his new found mojo with his wife, Laurie.

“I had joked the other day that . . . the hero sex really helps a 20-year-old marriage," Laurie Sullenberger said in the interview set to air Thursday.

"Rock star sex," chimed in the 58-year-old Capt. Sullenberger.

A boost in the bedroom is a natural reward for a man who displays the kind of courage and confidence Sully showed in the cockpit of his US Airways jet, sex therapists said.

“He became an alpha man to the public and that triggered in her, almost instinctually, the desire to mate with the alpha male,” said Dorothy Hayden, a Manhattan sex therapist. “He gets stronger, his personality gets stronger, his sense of self improves and that’s very sexy.”

While cautioning that the ideal of the noble protector exists as much in stereotype and fantasy as reality, psychologists said old-fashioned hero worship can provoke powerful feelings.

“When you’re married to someone for a long time, you start to forget what you were attracted to about them,” said Manhattan-based therapist Miro Gudelsky. “When you start seeing them through other people’s eyes as this hero, it can reignite things you felt previously or ignite new feelings.”

Rachel Ortiz, 36, of Jackson Heights, said she thought Sully was attractive as soon as she heard about what he did. “It makes a guy look like Superman …And shows he’s good in action.”

Jessica Velasquez, 29, of Manhattan, agreed that what Sully did was admirable but stopped short of saying it did much for her.

“I'm not any more attracted to him,” she said. “He's still the same-looking guy.”

Sex therapist Joel Block, however, said the allure of heroes like Sully sometimes operate beyond the conscious level.

“That sense of feeling secure, feeling protected, feeling that this is someone who will take care of you . . . all that tweaks hormones,” Block said. “And that’s the neurotransmitter that taps you on the shoulder and says, ‘I’m horny’”

(Phoebe Kingsack and the AP contributed to this story.)
 

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