Ricky Martin has reflected on a traumatising interview with Barbara Walters 21 years ago in a new interview with People.
In the new interview, he says the journalist’s line of questioning surrounding his sexuality left him feeling violated.
Barbara Walters interviewed Martin in 2000. She brought up the rumours surrounding his sexuality.
“Do they hurt? How do you handle them?” she asks.
“The word says it: intimacy,” replies Ricky Martin. “Sexuality and homosexuality should not be a problem for anybody.”
“Sexuality is something that each individual should deal with in their own way. That’s all I have to say about that.”
“Well, you could stop these rumours,” says Walters. “You could say, as many artists have, ‘Yes I am gay or no I’m not.'”
“I don’t want to put you on the spot… It’s in your power to do it.”
Visibly miffed, Martin replies, “Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity… But, for some reason, I just don’t feel like it.”
Now, in this new interview with People, Ricky Martin has addressed that interview.
“There’s a little PTSD with that situation because I felt a bit trapped,” he says. “I felt a bit violated because I was just not ready to come out.”
“I don’t think nowadays that question can even be asked.
“A lot of people say, what would you do differently?
“Well, maybe I would have come out in that interview. It would’ve been great because when I came out, it just felt amazing.
“But that day, I felt… I was very afraid. I was not ready. I don’t think you can force anyone to come out.”
Watch both interviews with Ricky Martin below.
