Today, Ricky Martin is a family man, raising a family with his husband Jwan Yosef. He has four children, all under the age of thirteen, who the two are raising. But this was not always the case for Ricky Martin. He was not always comfortable with his sexuality and giving himself a label. Now he is the face of People magazine for Pride month. In an interview with the outlet, he spoke about coming to terms with his sexuality and how he felt forced to reveal who he was before he was ready to do so. He recalled how he lived with anxiety for the longest time and how that anxiety was triggered by people constantly wanting him to label himself.

Ricky Martin tells his story during Pride month

Ricky Martin received popularity and fame at an early age. He was known to date a lot of women and he has since then revealed that he had even been dating men in private. People had told Martin that he was trying to hide from himself because he was termed as a ‘sex symbol’ and he wanted to keep that up. He revealed that may have been the reason but he could not say anything for sure. He said all he knew was love was confusing and so were labels. He did not know what or who he was but all he knew that he had dated women, a lot of women. He also revealed that he had truly loved the women he had dated.

According to Ricky Martin, sexuality is a complicated thing. He said he had never forced himself to be with women to prove a point. He said that he always shared chemistry with the women he dated, the kind that could not be faked. But still, as he was seen with women, questions about his sexuality kept popping up till things came to pass at Barbara Walters’ show when she outright asked him if he was gay. Ricky Martin revealed that at that time he was not ready to answer the question and he felt violated.

He recalls that people told him he could have come out at that interview and he says maybe he could. He said that he felt liberated when he accepted and announced his sexuality. Ricky Martin’s age was 29 when he finally came out on his website. He spoke about how liberated he felt then. Now he is a happily married man and Ricky Martin’s children are his life.

IMAGE: RICKY MARTIN'S INSTAGRAM