Ricky Martin is opening up about that interview with Barbara Walters in 2000, claiming he felt pressured to address his sexuality, not feeling ready at that time to share, he admits that the moment gave him "PTSD" (post traumatic stress disorder).
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Speaking to People about his rise to fame, Ricky admitted his persona was overtly sexual, however he was taken aback when Walters spoke so directly to the subject imploring him to "stop these rumors" and say "Yes I am gay or no I'm not," to which Martin responded, "I just don't feel like it.”
Ricky recalled, “when she dropped the question, I felt violated because I was just not ready to come out. I was very afraid," adding, “there’s a little PTSD with that."
From that moment, it would take Martin 10 years before publicly coming out on his official website. Looking back, he noted the relief he felt in doing so brought it all to mind and while he doesn’t regret holding back during that Walters interview, he confessed he does sometimes wonder what if.
Ricky admitted, “ A lot of people say, what would you do differently?,” which he’s actually put some thought into. "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.”
Despite his current point of view, and being happily married with four children to Jwan Yosef since 2017, Ricky admitted that his sexuality wasn't an easy subject to grasp. "Sexuality is one complicated thing," he said. "It's not black and white. It's filled with colors.”
He continued, "A lot of people have said, 'Rick, you were trying to prove yourself, because of fame and being a sex symbol.' Well yeah, it could be. I don't know. Everyone knows you don't have to be a gay man to know that love is complicated. Or to know how confusing attraction can be.”
As for Walters' take on the famed interview, she confessed to regretting the conversation, telling the Toronto Star in 2010, “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,” the now-retired Walters admitted. “A lot of people say that destroyed his career, and when I think back on it now, I feel it was an inappropriate question.”
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