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Congratulations and welcome to a life free of the closet and self-doubt, Ricky. Out and proud announcement on his web site.
A few months ago I decided to write my memoirs, a project I knew was going to bring me closer to an amazing turning point in my life. From the moment I wrote the first phrase I was sure the book was the tool that was going to help me free myself from things I was carrying within me for a long time. Things that were too heavy for me to keep inside. Writing this account of my life, I got very close to my truth. And this is something worth celebrating.For many years, there has been only one place where I am in touch with my emotions fearlessly and that’s the stage. Being on stage fills my soul in many ways, almost completely. It’s my vice. The music, the lights and the roar of the audience are elements that make me feel capable of anything. This rush of adrenaline is incredibly addictive. I don’t ever want to stop feeling these emotions. But it is serenity that brings me to where I’m at right now. An amazing emotional place of comprehension, reflection and enlightenment. At this moment I’m feeling the same freedom I usually feel only on stage, without a doubt, I need to share.
Many people told me: “Ricky it’s not important”, “it’s not worth it”, “all the years you’ve worked and everything you’ve built will collapse”, “many people in the world are not ready to accept your truth, your reality, your nature”. Because all this advice came from people who I love dearly, I decided to move on with my life not sharing with the world my entire truth. Allowing myself to be seduced by fear and insecurity became a self-fulfilling prophecy of sabotage. Today I take full responsibility for my decisions and my actions.
If someone asked me today, “Ricky, what are you afraid of?” I would answer “the blood that runs through the streets of countries at war…child slavery, terrorism…the cynicism of some people in positions of power, the misinterpretation of faith.” But fear of my truth? Not at all! On the contrary, It fills me with strength and courage.
This is just what I need especially now that I am the father of two beautiful boys that are so full of light and who with their outlook teach me new things every day. To keep living as I did up until today would be to indirectly diminish the glow that my kids where born with. Enough is enough. This has to change. This was not supposed to happen 5 or 10 years ago, it is supposed to happen now. Today is my day, this is my time, and this is my moment.
These years in silence and reflection made me stronger and reminded me that acceptance has to come from within and that this kind of truth gives me the power to conquer emotions I didn’t even know existed.
What will happen from now on? It doesn’t matter. I can only focus on what’s happening to me in this moment. The word “happiness” takes on a new meaning for me as of today. It has been a very intense process. Every word that I write in this letter is born out of love, acceptance, detachment and real contentment. Writing this is a solid step towards my inner peace and vital part of my evolution.
I am proud to say that I am a fortunate homosexual man. I am very blessed to be who I am.
RM
Yes, do it for your children — unashamed to be who you are, not living a lie because of others.
53 Comments
Wanna Know What’s MORE Torturous Than Being In The Closet?Ricky’s lead vocals when he was in Menudo! No joke, don’t say I didn’t warn you if you search for it.
Wonderful piece… Good for him..Well whose vocals wouldn't be bad 'doing Menudo'… have you ever tasted it!
Congratulations is right…that and “she bangs”. :)
Very nice statement from Ricky.I wish it had come years earlier, but he is who he is, and he knows what he needs, not me. More and more closet doors are coming off their hinges, and that can’t be anything but good.
No more‘Living La Vida Closeted’!
Good for you, Ricky!
Nice going RickyI’m truly happy for the guy. He just added years of stress free living to his life.
Quite franklyRicky’s voice is torturous period. He’s not a good singer, but he has great producers. He also has not had a career or a hit in how many years? Some might say he is playing la vida safe but coming out at the down time in his career. But from his statement it was just as I suspected: he had yes people and advisors telling him to stay in the damn closet. Fuck them Ricky and good for you!!!!!!!!!!
Bravo!
I’m happy for him, for his sons, and for all those Hispanic LGBTs who now have another proud role model. Every person has his/her own rough road to traverse to come out, but few of us have a career price tag attached to it.
And, The Cup of Life will always be one of the best songs of joy…
Dammit!All the good ones are married or gay. Or both.
Reading the comments on YahooI was quite stunned that a majority of people were either congratulating him or saying everyone knew already. A few anti gay assholes here and there, but THEY are in the minority. God, I love change. I remember when Ellen came out and people were calling for her head. Her fucking network threw her under a truck and now straight housewives from Iowa squeal when they watch her dance on her show. I LOVE change!!!
La vida abierta…es superior a la vida loca!
well…Keep in mind that’s he’s had one hell of a career and multiple hits over the last several years.
Just not in English Speaking Us pop charts.
He’s still one of the best selling artists in his primary area, and worldwide is outselling some groups that are “better known” in the US.
And what’s most interesting is that the areas he’s selling in this will make no difference to his overall popularity or sales.
Yep!Proof positive that we’re winning!
homosexual?CRAP, now we’ll have putrid bigots saying it’s fine to call us all a clinical term only some B-celeb used about himself.
Ricky was only the second worst kept secret on the planetAnderson Cooper I’m lookin’ at you.
I think Rosie and Ellen were further up the chartsin worst kept secrets. Andy will come out eventually. I just think he doesn’t want all the publicity to overshadow his journalism. Or something.
Next on 360Bears crap in the woods…and the Pope is Catholic!
Has anyone ever actuallyfound bear crap when they were in the woods?
yes, i haveand it was scarily fresh.
Yup – fresh and frozen…and we were walking scarily close to one of those warm misty caves they favor in northern PA. Hell yeah we rushed that part of the hike.
As the old saying goes, Better LATE than NEVERGood for him. His family will be much better for the honesty. The world will too. Every person who comes out is another person that can speak their truth which makes us all stronger.
Could I be pissed like others that he did not come out 20 years ago? Sure, but he was the one who paid the ultimate price for that decison.
The Amazing Randi too.He came out last week, at 80. Granted that this is a science geek blog so there was only one guy who was a pain and a bunch of clueless people, but you may also find these comments interesting too.
http://blogs.discovermagazine….
D’oh.I was thinking the same thing. You beat me to it. No more “livin’ la vida cerrada”.
It’s the “Well, DUH!” heard round the worldStill, “Allowing myself to be seduced by fear and insecurity became a self-fulfilling prophecy of sabotage. Today I take full responsibility for my decisions and my actions.” is incalculably important.
Many theories about this…I think it’s the “media knew about it before he did” theory. It’s when the media kind of knew the performer was gay before the closet doors came down. It happened to Clay Aiken, Sir Elton John, and even actors like Richard Chamberlain. Ricky Martin is a new addition to that phenomenon. Looks like Anderson Cooper is next.
Keep in mind that English isn’t his first languagePeople speaking or writing in a second or third language often come off as overly formal. A case in point was Arnold Schwartzenegger saying that Hitler was a “great” leader. In the formal sense of “great” that’s actually correct: a leader who causes a great deal of harm is in fact a great leader; the term has no denotations of good or bad.
I should also note that in many Western European societies, “homosexual” doesn’t have the kind of baggage it does here (largely, I suspect, because those societies don’t have the kinds of wingnuts we do).
I agreeI agree with you brother.
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Are we forgetting that he was in the Dubya camp in 2000?
On MSNBC’s early show this morningThe guy said that Ricky had come out and that the sky had also had a news conference and announced it was blue. Worst kept “secret” on the planet indeed!
DubyaMartin supports (or supported?) Puerto Rican statehood, and the main pro-statehood party there is controlled by Republicans.The Bush family (like the Fords and Rockefellers) have been staunch supporters of statehood. And don’t forget that he gave Bush the finger during a concert in San Juan. People change.
Ricky’s coming out will help fight homophobia in the latino communityI remember seeing Ricky when he was younger being interviewed in Spanish. He was always very gracious. He worked hard to be a positive role model for latinos and said he avoided taking acting roles that gave a negative portrayal of latinos. He excelled in his musical career which gave him the resources to start humanitarian organizations to help the less fortunate, especially children.
I think Ricky Martin’s coming out will help educate people, especially in the latino community, that it doesn’t matter who you are or what your sexual orientation is. We are all human beings and at the end, Love is all that matters.
I wish him the best. He will now be a great latino AND gay role model!
German wordCan you tell me what word you think Arnold was thinking in his head when he said “great” in English?
Like that line from the first Harry Potter movie“He did great things. Terrible things, but great.”
You are probably right about “homosexual.” It is a neutral, clinical term, and in most Western European countries that is where it remains. In the United States and many African countries, it is used — frequently and quite loudly — by conservatives who whine that being gay should still be considered a horrific disease.
Ricky Isn’t GayTo quote him here:
“I’m a fortunate homosexual.”
I’ve been out and proud since the age of 17 and never, ever, not once, have I referred to myself as a “homosexual.”
Gay? Of course. Queer? Certainly. But, never homosexual.
In any event, thank goodness Barbara Walters opened that closet door for him a decade ago and he finally found the nerve to walk through it.
look up stuff before condemning?Petey, in Spanish the word for gay is “homosexual” and Spanish is his first language so it’s pretty easy to see the connection. Do you know a language other than English? if you do, I’m sure you’ll be able to understand how these semantic mix-ups sometimes happen. Also, for better or worse, in the latin world he is definitely not a B-list celebrity.
Regarding “Homosexual”… just because the putrid bigots have soiled it it doesn’t mean that “homosexual” is a bad term. It’s pretty straightforward, no? Remember that “gay” used to be a slight before it was reclaimed as well.
Ricky Martin? I didn’t realize that he *wasn’t* out.There are some celebrities who, when they make a formal “outing” of themselves, might surprise me. Sometimes my reaction is like this one – “wasn’t he already out?”
Apparently he wasn’t out already.
Oh well.
At least it’s not like those situations where, on hearing the news of the death of a faded star of stage or screen, my clueless reaction has been, “I thought he (or she) was already dead!”
ugh…I can’t stand when Americans think that everyone who’s not popular in the US must be irrelevant and not have a career.
Now Ricky needs to have a sit down with Paquita la del Barrio AND SCREAM IN HER GOOD EAR ABOUT GAY PARENTING.
“homo”is the common word used for “gay” in Dutch. it isn’t derogatory.
He’s Puerto Rican, not Venezuelan.therefore almost certainly bilingual since childhood. Blaming his choice of words on internal translation anomalies isn’t a very strong argument.
Ricky Martin is perfectly proficient in English
@firefly
The rest of the text is in English from his website, not Spanish.
Keep your “tude”to yourself…and Get off MY DRESS….capiche?
@piggypornAnd how does the text being in English invalidate my point? Last I heard, the English language was not tied to what American speakers made of it exclusively.
With regards to “tude”… well you could have at least addressed the points of my reply instead playing tough guy. Oh and it’s “capisce” really if you want to go all fancy on me.
I’ll distillate my original post for you: Don’t be so provincial, k?
lolTotally! (psssst… Ricky… it’s not like we didn’t know already anyway!)
A friend of mine uses the phrase, “Open secret, not open life”Like Rosie O’Donnell, Ellen DeGeneres, Ian McKellan, Clay Aiken and who knows how many others, everyone in the gay community knew about Martin for years — decades — but it was never admitted and media speculation was discouraged.
What TechBear says belowand in the sense of the German word “groß” (a lot of meanings), not “großartig” (great, good).
Of course, Arnie is a Republican and labeled modern Austria as socialist. Who knows what he really meant …
You should have read the crapon Newsvine.
I thought he had come out a few years ago.
I think that’s up toAnderson.
Love it!So true. Maybe that’s what got Ricky to come out.
It’s never too late.
Der Gubernator has a lot of connections to the ultraright…Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger has no love for modern Austria at all. His politics harken back to 1933.
According to Max Blumenthal “Arnold also manages to find time outside his busy groping schedule to deliver a drunken toast to former SS Nazi war criminal Kurt Waldheim and meet with Austrian neo-fascist leader Jorg Haider(1), who gained influence by blaming immigration for Austria’s budget woes in the mid-1990s, a tactic Arnold would later employ to great effect in California…. Members of Mexican-American civil rights group MECHA reveal Arnold’s membership in US English, an anti-immigrant group headed by neo-confederate publisher James Lublinskus and founded by John Tanton. Tanton is the godfather of the modern anti-immigrant movement, founding 13 organizations that range in ideology from nativist to openly white nationalist.”
(1) It turns out that Jörg Haider had a lot in common with notorious Nazi homosexual Ernst Roehm. Haider, former leader of the neo-Nazi Austrian Freedom Party (Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs) was killed in an auto accident driving drunk after a night in a gay bar.
niceyes…agree with you guys…Thanks so much..
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großJa, das hab’ ich gedacht.
But has anyone seen an actual quote from Arnold using the word “great”? All I’ve ever found is the report that he admired Hitler.
I question his confusion anyway if he did use “great,” since groß in the sense of terrific or a term of approbation is way down in the definitions in my German dictionaries.