The singer reveals why he used to spend his birthday — which falls on Christmas Eve — away from his family every year, before looking back at his coming out journey and recalling the moment he “cried like a baby.”
Ricky Martin’s role on Palm Royale has him looking a bit at his own past.
On the Apple TV series, the singer plays a gay man in 1969 Palm Beach, a time and place where it wasn’t exactly accepted for gay men to be their true, authentic selves. While his character, Robert Diaz, is out to some in his inner circle on the show, he’s also in a relationship with a married man. As they’re forced to hide their love from the outside world, the two are able to find some freedom — and, of course, soapy drama — at an all-men’s resort in Season 2.
That aspect of having to hide from the public is something with which Martin — and basically every gay person alive — can relate. After his early rise to fame in Menudo, solo success on the Latin music charts and a stint on General Hospital, Martin really crossed over in 1999 with his first English album and breakout single, “Livin’ la vida loca.” With that song, Latin music went mainstream and he shot to superstardom.
Almost as immediately came questions about his sexuality, with Barbra Walters famously asking him whether he was gay in a 2000 interview. It wouldn’t be another decade, until 2010, that Martin — already a father to his twin boys at the time — came out with a message on his website, proclaiming, “I am proud to say that I am a fortunate homosexual man.”
During an interview with TooFab alongside Leslie Bibb for Season 2 of Palm Royale, Martin shared where he would go to get away and feel at ease with himself before coming out publicly.
“You know, for a moment, I was disappearing on my birthday for about six years,” he told TooFab’s Brian Particelli. “My birthday’s December 24 and my mom would be like, ‘Where are you going?’ and I’d be like, ‘I’m out mom, I just need to be.'”
He explained that, at the time, he wasn’t famous “around the world,” so he “would go to Amsterdam” on his annual trips. “I would just smoke my joint and I would just be and decompress,” he continued, as Bibb wondered whether he was truly “invisible” there.
“Yes. It was just me alone, and you might think like, ‘He went to Amsterdam, he did the saunas,’ no, no I just wanted to be alone,” Martin continued, referring to the city’s famed Red Light District. “I just wanted to hide. Yes, maybe I wanted to smoke my joint and just be chill and relax, but at the end of the day, I just wanted to hide and didn’t want anyone to know whether I was dating someone or not.”
Ricky Martin Dedicates First Ever Latin Icon Award to His Kids at VMAs
View Story
He said that while his mother would always ask why he went “so far” from them over the Christmas holiday, Martin added he “just really needed to be on my own.”
That story actually prompted a followup question from Bibb herself, who wanted to know more about Martin’s own coming out journey.
“I was 35 years old. I wrote a letter and I tweeted it, but when I clicked [post], I cried like a baby,” he recalled. “I felt so amazing and I was like, ‘Why didn’t I do it before?’ I always say, ‘Can I come out again?’ It felt amazing.”
Hearing that, Bibb pointed out how relevant Robert’s storyline is, even 56 years later.
“Isn’t it so beautiful, his character’s journey on the show and the responsibility; I think he does it with such grace and that is a really important thing because what’s happening in 1969, it’s still happening now, unfortunately,” said the White Lotus actress. “I really love that [showrunner] Abe Sylvia highlights that and creates a safe space where people can tune in and see someone that they could relate to and see somebody going through perhaps what they are going through.”
Looking to Martin, she added, “You really do it so gracefully.”
Watch the full interview above to see what the pair also had to say about working with “Patti f–king LuPone” on the new season of Palm Royale, Bibb’s memories of watching Martin on Silver Spoons, and how the show’s stacked cast leads to a lot of pinch me moments on set.
New episodes of Palm Royale drop Wednesdays on Apple TV.
Allison Janney Reveals Palm Royale Pinch Me Moments — And How She Feels About Evelyn’s Insults (Exclusive)
View Story
