"Electric Hip Prince" and "Dream Lover", in the 1998 World Cup in France, which can be called the first love of post-80s football, there were two dark horses, one was the Croatian team that won the third place in the World Cup for the first time, and the other was Ricky Martin, who became popular worldwide with a theme song "Cup of Life".
Today, at the age of 48, he is the father of two lovely children. After declaring to the world that he was a homosexual, he tried to spend his life declaring to the world, "We are just ordinary people."
Born in Puerto Rico in the eastern Caribbean in 1971, Ricky Martin began participating in television commercials at the age of 9 and joined the Puerto Rican teen idol group menudo at the age of 12, singing for five years. At the age of 17, Ricky Martin opted out of the group and studied for a year.
In 1991, Ricky Martin's debut Spanish album Ricky Martin became a hit, and the next two albums, me amaras and a medio vivir, established his place among Spanish singers.
In the gap between the releases of the two albums, Ricky Martin also starred in the American drama "General Hospital" and the Broadway stage play "les miserables" adapted from Hugo's famous book. And this is only the beginning of his acting career, and in 1998, he was even more dazzling.
In 1998, the World Cup in France, which can be called the first love of post-80s football, Ricky Martin became popular around the world with a theme song "Cup of Life", and this hot single won him the title of Latin "Hip King". Overnight, the name Ricky Martin became a household name.
In keeping with Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody," the Cup of Life quickly pulled Down Celine Dion's Titanic theme song "My Heart Will Go On" on the billboard charts. The song won him 41st Grammy Awards.
By then, his total record sales worldwide had exceeded 70 million, and he had 6 us billboard album chart number one albums and 11 billboard Latin singles number one singles.
For Ricky Martin, who was 27 years old at the time and born in the island state of Latin America, the popularity came much later than expected, after all, he debuted at the age of 12 and has been in the entertainment industry for 15 years.
Ricky Martin became a well-deserved world-class superstar. But this "male god" in the hearts of thousands of fans has a secret that has always been hidden in the heart - he is a homosexual.
In Latin America in the last century, many regions still regarded homosexuality as a "curse of the devil." In his autobiography, Ricky Martin wrote that he did not dare to reveal his homosexuality to anyone, and even if he intentionally or unintentionally tempted his good friend, those around him would tell him that it was an "unforgivable sin" not to have such thoughts.
In fact, Ricky Martin has always been eager to come out and face himself freely.
He wrote in his autobiography that for many years, there was only one place where he could touch his emotions fearlessly, and that was the stage. "On stage, my soul is being fully enriched. The music, the lights, and the cheers from the audience made me feel like there was nothing I couldn't do. That adrenaline-pumping force made me addicted and made me not want to stop."
But as he stepped off the stage, almost all the voices around him told him, "Your career will be ruined as soon as you come out." A friend close to him said, "Unless you're ready to give up your yearning for music and give up your acting career, don't come out."
In today's European and American showbiz, coming out is no longer a new thing for male artists, but in the era when Ricky Martin lived, the European and American showbiz at that time was more conservative.
Ricky Martin was synonymous with sexy singers from the 1990s to the early 2000s, and he has always been popular around the world with the labels of "electric motors" and "walking hormones" with strong masculinity. Therefore, everyone around him believes that if he comes out publicly, it will be equivalent to announcing the end of his acting career.
In 2000, a reporter suddenly asked him at an event if he was gay. Ricky Martin replied conservatively, "I don't think homosexuality should be a question." But he wrote in his autobiography that he really wanted to tell her the answer in the affirmative, but the advice of the agency, friends, and family members made him not do so.
The media's constant speculation and questioning pierced Martin's heart like a needle. "The speculation about my sexual orientation is presented in a negative light, as a scandal or a bad thing," he said, "which makes me hate myself sometimes."
In 2007, Ricky Martin ended his last world tour. At the age of 36, he put his focus back on life. That year, he began to decide to have children.
In July 2008, Ricky Martin issued a statement to the media that he had a pair of twin boys through advanced medical technology, both of whom were healthy and lovely, and that he had been promoted to father and entered another stage of his life.
"I have to come out," Martin said in his autobiography, "how can I lie to these two lovely children?"
So in March 2010, 38-year-old Ricky Martin announced through his official website what the media called a "bombshell", "He is a homosexual." After the news came out, Ricky Martin received thousands of fans and the support of a large number of rights organizations, and the voices of cynicism and insults were also endless.
Ricky Martin says that as he gets older, he values his feelings more, and he has to make himself a little happier, regardless of the outside world. No matter how many people object, he has to face himself, let alone deceive his children.
Now, ten-year-old sons ask Ricky Martin, "Why can we have two dads?" He replied, "Our family is part of the modern family. Some families have a father and a mother, some families have two mothers, some families have two fathers, and some families may have only one father or only one mother, these are all kinds of families, which are manifestations of free will."
Ricky Martin and his husband Jwan Yosef
From 1998 to 2019, more than two decades have passed, and the Latin Prince is 48 years old. He looks back on the past, "The fear, doubt, and anxiety of the past made my heart gradually stronger until I found my true self and was willing to accept this self." I want more people to let my children know that we are ordinary people and we are ordinary families."
Just this past July 22, Ricky Martin returned to his hometown of Puerto Rico and joined hundreds of thousands of people on the streets demanding the resignation of Puerto Rico Governor Rosello. The incident was sparked earlier when Rossello's chats with more than a dozen public officials were exposed, and a large number of obscene and discriminatory content caused public outrage, including homophobic remarks against Ricky Martin and others.
They did. Faced with pressure, Rosello officially left office on August 2.
Ricky Martin, already a dad of two, hasn't stopped seeking happiness for the LGBT community.
In May 2016, at the High-Level Event on Eliminating Discrimination against Gay, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender People at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, Ricky Martin and many participants, including Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, shared their feelings about coming out as a gay person:
"If I could come out again, I would come out again because it feels so amazing." For many years, I lived in fear. I think it's the music that gives me a lot of power. I've toured all over the world, singing in stadiums packed with audiences. But I will say that I have always lived in fear because I hate myself because all I heard from my childhood was a very distorted idea: you are gay and should stay in hell. It only took me a minute to come out, but when I did that, it was unbelievable."
"I mean, I wish I could do that again, I wanted me to be able to stand in front of the camera and tell people who are still struggling with self-perception, to tell them that it's beautiful." We are gathered here today to work for a common cause, which is equality, love and social justice."
Ricky Martin added, "We're not asking for more, no more, no less, just wanting the same."
People often discuss that there are many women as gay icons, such as lady gaga, but male gay icons are almost impossible to find, but we want to say, isn't Ricky Martin the most dazzling one? He is the sexiest man in the world, with world-class influence and a large number of gay fans. At the same time, he bravely walked out of the cupboard and shouted for the gay community...
Someone asked him what he was doing for, and he said, it was for his children, so that when he saw his two dads on TV, he could say, "Ah, look at my dad, it's so cool!"
He lived as every comrade wanted.
Wen | vigorously
Braid | black onion
This article is original for light blue