“I was very afraid.
There’s a little PTSD with that,” said the pop star.
Twenty years after arriving on the pop culture scene,Ricky Martinis “livin' la vida loca.”
Ricky Martin and Barbara Walters.Everett Collection
Martin officially came out in 2010 and ever since, the pop star has been living his truth.
(He’s been married to Syrian-Swedish artist Jwan Yosef since 2017.)
In 2000, Martin appeared in an interview withBarbara Waltersat the height of his fame.
“When she dropped the question, I felt violated because I was just not ready to come out.
I was very afraid,” Martin toldPEOPLE.
“There’s a little PTSD with that.”
At the time, Martin brushed off the question as he best he could.
But decades later, the memory still haunts him.
“A lot of people say, what would you do differently?
Well, maybe I would have come out in that interview.
Because if you hide it, it’s a life-or-death situation.”
“There are many, many kids out there that don’t have someone to look up to.
But, you’re free to’t force someone to come out.
But if you have an egg and you open it from the outside, only death comes out.
But if the egg opens up from the inside, life comes out.”
Read PEOPLE’s full cover story.
