Latin singer Ricky Martin has revealed coming out to his fans in 2010 “felt amazing”.
“I wrote a letter, and I tweeted it,” Martin told Andy Cohen on SiriusXM. “I wish I could come out 20 times. It felt amazing. Of course, I started crying like a baby. You know, I pressed send, and I was like, ‘Oh, that’s it?'”
Martin shared that it took some time for him to decide to come out publicly because his team thought it’d be best for his career if he kept his sexuality a secret.
“‘Don’t. This is going to be the end of your career,'” Martin said, recalling his team’s words. “‘Everybody knows around you. You don’t have to tell the world. Your friends know, your family know. Why do you need to stand in front of the camera and talk about it?'”
The press has speculated about Martin’s sexuality for years, even before he came out.
In 2000, Barbara Walters asked him if he was gay on national television.
“You could stop these rumours,” Walters said. “You could say, ‘Yes, I am gay, or no, I’m not.'” Martin eventually answered, “Barbara, for some reason, I just don’t feel like it.”
In 2010 – the same year that Martin came out – Walters told The Toronto Star that her biggest regret was pushing him to reveal his sexuality.
“In 2000, I pushed Ricky Martin very hard to admit if he was gay or not, and the way he refused to do it made everyone decide that he was,” Walters said. “A lot of people say that destroyed his career, and when I think back on it now, I feel it was an inappropriate question.”
Prior to coming out, the Livin’ La Vida Loca singer said that his team “didn’t understand” the significance of him coming out.
However, his father encouraged him to speak his truth, especially after Martin welcomed twin sons with his ex-partner Jwan Yosef via surrogate.
“He said, ‘What are you going to do, teach your kids to lie? You got to be open. You got to go out. I want to help you. How can we do this?'” Martin said, recalling his father’s words.
Though his parents were both supportive, he says it took his mother some time to understand his situation when he came out to her at 18 years old.
“She was concerned because she was like, ‘Oh my God, I just don’t want you to hurt.’ And people out there are really cruel, and so it took her a minute to accept it,” he said.
