When Did you first know that Ricky Martin is Gay?!

When I parted his tight buns with my thick 10 inch pole.

I always sensed it but it was confirmed to me (and my mom) while we watched him during Barbara Walter most fascinating people that year he broke out in the Mainstream English market. The rumors circulated for years, so she asked him, are you gay? His response with a big awkward smile on his face and looking embarrassed said he would rather not discuss his sexuality. His not wanting to discuss it said he is gay to me right away. And my mom. And others.

It was when he was first becoming big in the US. I was a pre-teen, but I knew what gay was and I knew I was gay. I got a vibe about him (proto-gaydar I suppose). A few months later I had an older cousin, whose friend was friends with Ricky’s then boyfriend, tell us (a group of cousins) that Ricky was gay and shared an apartment with his friend. To my knowledge my cousin is not gay or bi, but he’s a hopeless alcoholic. He would probably sleep with anything who would buy him a drink. He was very good looking but is now bloated from drink.

The first time I saw him on TV

When he was in Menudo pre-puberty.

Livin' La Vida Loca 1999.

He performed at George W. Bush’s 2001 inauguration festivities.

Before Ricky Martin came out, I had trouble believing he is gay because I was unaware that there were men that attractive who would have gay sex for enjoyment rather than money. I was so naive about gay men that I thought the hot gay guys were only gay for pay.

When he announced he was gay in public

At R4 I said it was when I 1st saw him on TV - that would be February 24, 1999 @ the Grammy Awards . . .

When magazine paparazzi began snapping photos of him doing yoga on the beach (in a speedo) and holding hands with his boyfriend..

Does anyone else think he would have drifted off into obscurity if he never came out?

R11 Does anyone else think he would have drifted off into obscurity if he never came out?

I do, Ricky's coming out was a publicity move to revive his dead career.

It’s sad his career died. He’s so talented.

His career is not dead, hes very famous

In the mid-90s a Brazilian friend told me he had hooked up with Ricky on Mykonos.

The thing he most remembered about him was that his skin was bad.

R14 his career is dead. Fame doesn’t mean your career is thriving.

From cold maw of space

So I remember seeing an interview during the La Vida Loca days, where the interviewer asked, "What do you look for in a woman?" It took him about 10 minutes of squirming in his seat to answer, after which he mumbled, "Femininity." I wondered at the time if his manager rushed him a telegram or something in a state of panic, with a prepared answer.

When I saw him on Sesame Street, singing with Menudo.

I thought they all were, when they were on Saturday morning cartoon time. He was so little and girly, and I never considered him sexually at all. Oh there was one or two who seemed straight, but they also seemed dangerous and like they had wives at home already.

Later when NKOTB came out the only one I thought was straight was Danny The Gorilla One.

After Ricky came out, He gained some interest in USA (which was his main goal for coming out), and appeared on many interviews including Oprah, but after a while, No body cared anymore.

He's still famous in Latin America though but that's it.

R14 Nah, his career is pretty dead.

Vente Pa Ca (2016/2017) and La Mordidita (2015) are his only hits since Tu Recuerdo (2006). Vente Pa Ca was only a hit because Maluma is super fucking popular, tabloids started running rumors of them having an affair, and tabloids claimed the video of a blowjob was Ricky getting a bj from him. His career was flopping from when he came back in 2011 to 2015. Both of his albums since his comeback did pretty mediocre, and his last couple tours didn't do too hot either.

Years ago when The National Enquirer had a blurb on their cover with his photo, "Ricky Martin Is Gay!". It got me thinking and as it turned out they were correct.

When he presented.

When I intervooted him.

His staged dates with Gabriela Sabatini (!) back in the 1990s, and when TV presenter Rebecca de Ruvo was paid by some tabloid to say what an "amazing" lover he was.

Other than him being gay and the abuse that occurred in Menudo, what other gossip has there been about him?

It seems like the guys he dated is the only gossip that actually exists about him, especially during 1989-1998 (ie after Menudo but before he crossed over).

Anybody (esp people from spanish speaking countries) heard anything?

There was a brilliant post on DL once about how half of Ricky Martin's songs are about how horrified he is by attractive, sexually voracious women.

When his first word was "gurrrl".

R28 The english version of Livin La Vida Loca is basically a song about being date raped and mugged and he likes it. So by that one we should've known considering that is called stockholm syndrome.

It's the leather pants that clued me in.

R28 Actually his songs are about cocaine.

Spanish ver of She Bangs: Yo puse el deseo ella puso el control

Spanish ver of Livin La Vida Loca: La tela de la araña, la una del dragon Te lleva a los infiernos, ella es tu adicción

Maria: blanca como el día pero es veneno si te quieres enamorar. Así es María tan caliente y fría, que si te la bebes de seguro te va a matar

Fuego de noche, nieve de día

Having control over him, him being addicted and out of control, Maria being addicting and exciting, fire by night, snow by day?? Come oooon.

But seriously back in the 90s he got flack from somebody who claimed that his song Maria was about cocaine. He basically laughed and said it's funny how art can be interpreted in different ways, so at least he has a sense of humor about it.

When he started wearing blonde highlights.

MARIA!

The first time I saw him.

The first time ever I saw his face.

The defining moment.

When he opened his mouth for the first time

Something about him makes me so sad.

The Menudo stuff sounds really bad, especially since he looks so young at R37. And he seems like a people pleaser who really wants approval. He also seems to not like being pitied, he talks like a self help book, and he’s very spiritual. All those things make me think he’s tried really hard to fight some demons so at least he seems to be relatively happy now that he has kids.

Yeah, his career has stagnated. The 1999 performance was one of those wow moments and you really thought he was going to go onto great things. And he did for awhile. But it's mostly been underwhelming.

Maybe the Gianni Versace mini-series will lead him to more acting roles, but I can't remember the last time he put out a song that caught my interest.

La Mordidita is a certified bop R40.

And Disparo al Corazon reminds me when he kept slaying the 90s with his ballads, as evident by the awards it got,, though too bad ballads are pretty dead so it didn’t do as well as it should have commercially.

Honestly it wasn't until he had his kids by a surrogate.

I was in deep denial.

I am friends with one of Ricky's former (gay) wardrobe assistants. I was aware that Ricky was gay back in 1990.

I saw him singing in Spanish on one of those Spanish channels in the early 90's, probably '92 or '93. He had long hair and kept flipping it and playing with it while singing. I was middle school age and I was like "Look at Hur"! He was very fem and I wasn't physically attracted to him, but I was mesmerized that he was freely being himself onstage. Now that he has gotten older, I think he has grown into his looks and has become a good looking man.

His career has only stalled in the US. He's still bigly hugely all over the Latin world.

[quote] I was in deep denial.

Why?

When I met him under his AOL screen name BwyBtm when he was in Le Miz.

R45 he’s still well known in Latin America yes in a permanent A lister kinda way due to being in their pop culture for the 80s but hes not popular anymore. He’s seen as someone your mom likes since many of their mothers do still like him.

When Rebeca de Alba's (who was Ricky's on-off beard), ex called them girlfriends in an interview. It was early 2000s. He was pressured by someone to take it back later.

It’s funny he said that because Rebecca is either a lesbian or a professional beard. The dude who said that is probably gay himself.

He is bi. He likes the ladies too

No he’s not, he only says that because like 80% of his fanbase are women. Conservative latina women at that, who may still like him but don’t want him rubbing the gay in their faces and want to pretend he can still like them.

There is a reason why Jwan is usually the one who posts the pictures of them together whereas Ricky typically only posts pictures of himself, even if it’s obvious that Jwan got up and took the solo picture after somebody took a pic of both of them.

He posted a pic of him and Conchita like 3 years ago and some of his hardcore fans were really pissed about it.

No. He is bi, no matter what you say. Your standards for labeling a straight male celebrity gay are shaking his hands with another male or saying hello to another man. He has said himself he is attracted to women. If you see the women dancers in his shows, you'll know he loves women.

I guess I don't remember, but as an above poster said it was probably the pictures with him and his boyfriend at the beach. It didn't matter to me if he was gay or straight; I just thought he was really cute, seemed to have fun at this shows, and had some pretty sexy dance moves. IIRC he wasn't all that great at his Broadway stints, but I think that' s OK too. I for one am glad the world has a Ricky Martin.

R39, that’s how I feel about him, too. Hopefully he’s happy now.

[quote]He has said himself he is attracted to women

Cause he’s a liar who lies to save his career

Lied about not being aware of abuse occurring in Menudo

Lied about not liking men

Probably lied about other stuff so he wouldn’t be pitied, like he said he wasn’t depressed but was just rebelling and tired (that would make you not get out of bed for days and be aggressive towards friends??) and said both of his parents accepted his gayness wholly in the 90s right after telling them.

r56 Why do you doubt him. It only takes a straight male celebrity, with a string of genuine hetero relationships, shaking hands with another man, for him to be labelled as gay in the DL. But when a bi says he likes the ladies too, you do not believe him. He is out of the closet, he doesn't need to lie.

I first suspected it when he was in Menudo -- he simply came across like a cute gay kid to me. Many years later, around the time of that Barbara Walters interview, these beach pictures of him with a friend were revealed, and based on those, I became confident that he was truly gay.

R53 He's lying. He changed his story so many times, He said on Oprah when he first came out and she asked him whether he's gay or bi, he answered he was Gay. point blank. Then when the interest in him coming out has waned, he started to say that he loves women too.

r59 or he has realized that he loves the ladies after being with men. It happens. I know a gay guy who currently is having a relationship with a woman and he loves to fuck her to pieces

I didn't realize until very late. I was aware of the rumors in the early 2000s but back then I naively believed any celebrity who denied being gay. Then in 2008 or 2009 I had a one night stand with a Nicaraguan guy. The next morning we got to talking about Ricky for some reason and he told me he was gay. I was shocked and asked how he knew. He said everyone in the Latin world knew he was gay and had boyfriends, it was just America that was in the dark. I was still skeptical but he came out not long after.

First time I saw him on TV

My straight female friend was working backstage at one of his shows confirmed it. It was around late 90s I think. She said he turned up with a harem of gorgeous young gay guys. They all “worked” for him apparently, although their only job seemed to be sitting around his dressing room looking good while they waited for him.

[quote]He said everyone in the Latin world knew he was gay and had boyfriends

I had a friend from PR and she said years ago he would occasionally straight up walk around PR with guys who were significantly hotter than the rest of his entourage and friends.

[quote][R59] or he has realized that he loves the ladies after being with men. It happens. I know a gay guy who currently is having a relationship with a woman and he loves to fuck her to pieces

r60, obviously it goes without saying that your friend is not gay.

Asking again cause I'm really curious: Other than him being gay and the abuse that occurred in Menudo, what other gossip has there been about him?

Anybody (esp people from spanish speaking countries) heard anything?

He's apparently a smoker and has been for years (at least the early 00s but probably since Menudo), and he hung out with the likes of Juan Castro (gay argentine journalist, RIP) and Maradona during the mid/late 90s and those guys are legendary in Argentina for being cocaine fiends. Yet I've never heard of any gossip about him doing drugs or being a smoker. What else could there be?

R66

WHITNEY HOUSTON’S DRUG DEALER SPEAKS

According to Joey Diaz, the last time he saw Whitney Houston was in 1998, coincidently, after the Grammy Awards.

“I get a call on Monday morning after the Grammy’s at 9:00 in the morning,” Diaz recalled.

Shortly afterwards, the Houston’s arrived with a special guest.

“It was the manager, Whitney Houston and Ricky Martin and they’re all going, from the Grammys. That jaw, all them jaws are going jack. I bought it, brought it back to the car and that was the last time I fucking seen them.”

r67 "That jaw, all them jaws are going jack." Someone, please, can explain me what that means? Thanks in advance.

He just means they were grinding their teeth really bad.

r69 Because the cocaine, I suppose. Thank you very much, sweetheart.

Was Ricky even at the 1998 Grammys? He didn't crossover until 1999.

R71 Maybe it was Grammy 1999 and the drug dealer forgot the date. It was almost 20 years ago.

Grammy Awards- 1999. He woke up the room. It was so boring up until he came on. You see it in the face of the audience. And he worked his ass off for that performance. But only a gay man ( Elton, Liberace, Freddie Mercury) could have exited that crowd. He was a musical line of coke that night needed.

Why oh why did long hair have to be in style when he was entering twinkhood

This is the first time I've actually seen one of his kids interact with Jwan. And one of them seems to be taller than the other.

The ultrasound

Julio Iglesias outed him in the late 90s. Not by name but by innuendo. I still don’t think they like each other

Julio or his son Enrique?

he isnt famous enuf to even ask that question

Is he cut?

He "dated" Gabriela Sabatini in the 90's. That says it all.

In the late 80's, there were rumors he was dating, Tina Yothers. ( I think Entertainment Tonight aired a story about them) My cousin & I suspected something then. He was cute. She looked like a Cabbage Patch Doll. We didn't believe it for a second.

When he was doing Telenovelas in Mexico. Everybody knew he had his eyes on Eduardo Verastegui. Who he wronged and dumped. Eduardo would go on to become a pass around Hollywood bottom and is now a new born Christian.

Michael Musto used to give out blind items about Ricky during the 00s. For a while, EVERYONE was speculating about his sexuality.

There was also a book in which Ricky's then "ambiguity" was discussed. (Latina/o Communication Studies: Theorizing Performance, 2007, by Bernadette Marie Calafell.) Datalounge won't allow for the link to be published, but you can google it for a book preview.

R84, what did that book say about him?

R83 You mean Ricky wronged and dumped Eduardo Or it's the other way around?!

R83 He and Eduardo were only a thing in 2000 and 2001. They didn't know each other back in the early 90s because Eduardo didn't even have a career until 1994 as a part of Kairo. Anyway I think it is pretty obvious that Eduardo attached himself to Ricky in hopes of kickstarting his career. Ricky was in Menudo (biggest latino boy band) and had two very successful albums (A Medio Vivir and Vuelve). Eduardo, part of the flop boy band Kairo, wanted that same success. Then his solo album released in 2001, probably thanks to Ricky, and it was fucking shit and flopped. Then he moved onto acting more and flopped there too. Being model and a hardcore catholic are the only things that Eduardo didn't flop in.

R86 Rumor is Ricky wouldn't commit like Eduardo wanted and Eduardo got upset and cut up some of Ricky's underwear. He lived in Ricky's Miami house for a while so he probably did it then and then Ricky kicked him out. Knowing that Ricky has probably had open relationships in the past, I'm guessing their relationship was a gay tale as old as time: they thought the other was so hot and kept wanting to have sex with each other, they both wanted different levels of commitment, they put up with each other's nagging for the sex, and then Eduardo couldn't take the frustration anymore.

Thoughts on this guy?

Andre Santos said he was with him in 1997, and unlike other guys who came forward for their five seconds of fame, he actually has pictures of them and a vest that he said Ricky gave to him.

r46, I am a woman and he was going to be MY husband.

I was pretty young and I spent $100 to see him at MSG.

When he did that shitty duet with Christina Aguilera. They had less chemistry than Whitney Houston & George Michael's duet.

When? Immediately.

I love that duet he did with Christina Aguilare! Was he any good on General Hospital? Did he get any on the set?

Nothing on General Hospital is good.

And he got probably got racial slurs on set, does that count?

[quote]He and Eduardo were only a thing in 2000 and 2001. They didn't know each other back in the early 90s because Eduardo didn't even have a career until 1994 as a part of Kairo.

Ricky did Alcanzar una Estrella 2 in 1991 and met Eduardo in late 1992 in Mexico city before Kairo became a thing in 1993.

Of course Rick dumped him. They used to share an apartment in Miami but Ricky was too busy fucking every Sebastian, Pablito, and any whore hanging from a tree in Televisa San Angel.

Ricky sort of has a Brad Pitt quality at R94.

[quote] And he got probably got racial slurs on set, does that count?

From whom?

Right away.

Some time in the last 90s.

At first sight.

R94 That's Ricky's 1996 hair/goatee combo. Eduardo definitely wanted Ricky for the nepotism. Kairo was flopping and pretty much on life support at this point and Ricky's A Medio Vivir album came out the year before.

R96 Ricky said he didn't like working on set partially because of racism. He mentioned people telling him to get rid of his accent and people treating him differently, but Ricky always downplays shit so he won't be pitied.

Hung? Bottom? Top ?

r39 The saddest thing is that Versace brought him back into the spotlight and he immediately decided to open up his marriage. Tells me he wanted to take advantage of the visibility it brought and the dick the visibility brought him. He really is a dick pig.

I don’t think Ricky had a very healthy environment to foster healthy relationship habits.

One of his old housekeepers said he dated Miguel Bose in 1989 to 1990; he was 17 and Miguel was 33 if that’s true...

[Quote]Hung? Bottom? Top ?

I remember Michael Musto's Village Voice blind item about him of being a very happy and talented bottom.

Thanks, R100.

When he performed for the RNC , I saw Ms. Lindsay accidentally touch herself.

Miss Graham would never partake in such vulgarity.

art.

Um, when someone told me that the "latin" guy Leo and Matt Damon were fighting over was Ricky Martin and that's why Damon moved to Miami full time.

When he actually came out and said that he was gay, but not before then. I know I'm on DL, but really, that's how it works for me.

[quote]the "latin" guy Leo and Matt Damon were fighting over

And when was this, R109?

I was born with that knowledge.

R111, I’m not R109 but that was a DL rumor about 10 years ago. Supposedly Matt kept his Latino boy toy in an apartment in Miami.

when he shook his bon bon in my face

I was flying from Santos Dumont airport in Rio to São Paulo in the mid 1990s. As I entered the waiting lounge for the flight, I heard a huge commotion of screaming teen girls chasing a Twink and his small entourage into our lounge. He looked vaguely familiar to me. Then a nearby woman whispered in Portuguese that it Ricki Martin from Menudo. He looked scrawny with bad acne scars and shoulder length hair whiter than snow. He ended up in the seat directly behind me on the flight. He sounded rather femme when he talked. Quite an evolution from Brazil until today,

When he was on Oprah at age 13

^ He was as cute as a button but he looks like a 10 year old.