The 'Livin' La Vida Loca' hitmaker says it was not his intention to mislead anyone when he dated women years ago before eventually coming clean about his sexuality.
- Jun 3, 2021
AceShowbiz - Pop star Ricky Martin had no intention of "misleading anyone" when he dated women before embracing his sexuality as a gay man.
The "Livin' La Vida Loca" hitmaker had been linked to a string of females prior to "coming out" in 2010, and he insists his feelings for his girlfriends at the time were genuine.
He reflected, "Sexuality is one complicated thing. It's not black and white. It's filled with colours. When I was dating women, I was in love with women. It felt right, it felt beautiful."
"You can't fake chemistry - the chemistry was there with them. I wasn't misleading anyone."
Ricky was famously quizzed about his sexuality during a U.S. TV interview with Barbara Walters in 2000, 10 years before he revealed he was gay.
At the time, he rejected the chance to "come out" - but he now admits it would've been "great" if he had felt comfortable enough to acknowledge his sexual preferences there and then.
Ricky, who is married to artist Jwan Yosef, told People magazine, "A lot of people say, what would you do differently? Well, maybe I would have come out in that interview."
"It would've been great because when I came out, it just felt amazing. When it comes to my sexuality, when it comes to who I am, I want to talk about what I'm made of, about everything that I am. Because if you hide it, it's a life-or-death situation."
When he finally did announce he was gay, Ricky became the first mainstream Latin music star to "come out," and it's because of his own struggles that he knows how difficult it can be for other young people to publicly acknowledge their sexuality, especially if they're lacking relevant role models in the LBGTQ community.
"There are many, many kids out there that don't have someone to look up to. All they have around them is people telling them, 'What you're feeling is evil,' " the father-of-four said.
"But, you can't force someone to come out. But if you have an egg and you open it from the outside, only death comes out. But if the egg opens up from the inside, life comes out."
