Ladies, Promise Not to DROOL! Idris Elba covers the October 2013 Issue of America’s GQ

Pinky swear? No? Alright, you are allowed to drool, swoon or whatever…and for gents, you allowed to hate him for looking so good.

For the October 2013 Issue of Gentlemen’s Quarterly (GQ), the team behind the American magazine had one man in mind – Idris Elba.

The British actor of Ghanaian/Sierra Leonean parentage, looks sharp and suave on the cover in a Gucci striped three-piece suit, shirt and tie.

Idris Elba who plays Nelson Mandela in a Justin Chadwick directed flick Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, has received great reviews by critics.

Many have declared that he will be nominated for an Academy Award for his bizarre, yet true and emotional portrayal of the African legend.

Showing off his dapper self, Idris rocks more AH-mazing suits in the editorial spread.

Read excerpts from the interview;
On his ex wife, who he had an on-and-off relationship with and married at 26
I liked the idea of being married.  I was focused in on what I was trying to do in my life. And my girl supported me.

On their divorce, which happened when his now ex-wife was pregnant
I had to keep going back and forth to New York, to London, to try and make a bit of money real quick. She didn’t adjust to the culture as quickly as I did. We just had a hard time. The next thing you know, we broke up.

On struggling as an actor
The apartment we had lived in together was in Jersey City. So when I left, I was sofa-hopping here and there and got to a place where I was parking it in Jersey somewhere and just camping down for the night.  I mean, it was like, “Fuck, where did I go wrong?” I had a lot of promise in England, you know? “What the fuck are you doing here? Your visa’s going to run out soon. You’re going to have a baby. What the fuck are you doing?” That’s what’s going through my head…I was studying [for “the Wire”] in my van for the auditions.”

On selling weed
…I was running with cats. I mean, I was DJ’ing, but I was also pushing bags of weed; I was doing my work. I had to. I know that sounds corny, but this is the truth. All those black comedians, they knew me as a doorman.

On his unique ability to blend in, as a kid and now
I sort of blended into the background quite a bit. I wasn’t the guy that was a big personality. I was the tall, silent, quiet type….I call it the invisible factor.  On any ordinary street, walking down in London Soho in a cap, I’m just a fucking tall black man walking along.

On the son he thought was his, but discovered the baby momma lied to him
“The celebration of having a son—from a man’s perspective, it’s massive.”

GQ – He told friends about it. He told reporters about it. Then came the suggestion – not from the child’s mother, but from elsewhere – that not everything was what it appeared to be.

“It wasn’t immediately obvious—well, it was, because he didn’t look like me. But it wasn’t immediately obvious what had gone down.”

GQ – Eventually, Elba decided to take a paternity test, which showed the child wasn’t his.

“To be given that and then have it taken away so harshly, was like taking a full-on punch in the face: POW.”

“You know, the truth is—like, even admitting it, I’ll probably get laughed at for the rest of my life. But it is just tragic, and it happened.”

He looks directly at the reporter and says…”But I wasn’t knocked out. I stood right the fuck back up, and I ain’t aiming to take another punch in the face ever again. Do you understand what I’m saying? It happened to me. I moved on.”

For more on the interview, click HERE

Watch behind the scenes action of Idris Elba’s GQ Shoot