Ricky Martin is opening up about the pivotal role his father played in the Puerto Rican superstar’s decision to publicly come out as gay. In an interview on Sirius XM’s Andy Cohen Live, the singer got candid about how his decision to reveal his sexuality in 2010 would have never happened without the support of his father Enrique.
In the interview, Martin discussed how his team encouraged him to continue hiding his sexuality. “This is gonna be the end of your career’” they told him. “You don’t have to tell the world. Your friends know, and your family knows. Why do you need to stand in front of the camera and talk about it?”
But his father Enrique disagreed. “What are you gonna (do), teach your kids to lie?” Martin recalled him saying. “You gotta be open. You gotta go out… I want to help you. How can we do this?”
That support solidified his decision to come out, Martin shared. From then on, it was only about figuring out how he was going to do it.
Martin also spoke about the support he’s had from his mom in his coming out journey during the interview, admitting that “she was concerned because she was, ‘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.”
But Martin has a really good relationship with both his parents, and their support, and he looks back at the decision to come out when he did positively. “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?’” he said, referring to the letter he tweeted out. “My assistant who’s still my assistant, Paco, he was next to me and I’m like, ‘I think I need a hug.’”
See the moment between Ricky Martin and Andy Cohen below.