But what does the general public know about her? She was super hot and in a love triangle.

Funny thing about that (and commentary on modern society) is she wasn't actually physically that attractive. She is often described as somewhat plain, there's even a bust of her we can see for ourselves that isn't physically very striking. But she captivated people in her social circles not with physical beauty but by being exceedingly sharp, charismatic and witty. In a party of all the nobles, she was the one everyone wanted to talk to because she was the most interesting to talk to. She was clever beyond peer and that's why so many men fell for her, it literally was her personality not her body. By most standards her body was not anything particularly special among wealthy women of that era.

I personally blame Shakespeare. 16th-19th century England I guess saw that the only way to seduce a man as a woman was flaunting her sexually. And so it just cemented into our culture.