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The British actor married theatre director Sophie Hunter in February 2015, with the couple welcoming a son, named Christopher Carlton, later that year.
However, online conspiracy theorists have claimed his marriage is a sham designed to foster good publicity, allegations which Benedict fears are a product of people with a frightening obsession over him.
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"There are people who believe that my wife is a P.R. stunt and my child is a P.R. stunt," he tells Vanity Fair magazine. "I think really it's to do with the idea that the 'Internet's boyfriend' can't actually belong to anyone else but the Internet. It's impossible he belongs to anyone but me. And that's what stalking is. That's what obsessive, deluded, really scary behaviour is."
Despite worrying some fans are infatuated with him, Benedict doesn't mind some of their lighter-hearted fantasies, including one Twitter user who shared her desire to see him eat an apple fritter topless.
"I'm glad I'm bringing a ray of sunshine to an otherwise dull day, being imagined eating fritters shirtless," he says.
Read more: Benedict Cumberbatch: Am I Bond ready?
The 40-year-old star doesn't understand why he's become a sex symbol though, as he is still unhappy with his looks.
"I don't know, it makes me giggle," he explains. "I don't look at myself in the mirror and go, 'Yeah, absolutely! I see what they're saying!' I see all my faults and everything that I've always seen as my faults."
Benedict's heartthrob status really began in 2010 with his role as cerebral detective Sherlock Holmes in the BBC drama Sherlock.
The actor is now set to play another enigmatic genius on screen, as he stars as Dr. Stephen Strange in new Marvel superhero movie Doctor Strange. The new film hits cinemas on 4 November, 2016.
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