UPDATES

Ricky Martin Comes Out

Calls himself “a fortunate homosexual man.”

Singer Ricky Martin wrote on his Web site that he is “a fortunate homosexual man [and] very blessed to be who I am,” after years of dodging questions about his sexuality, even from the intrepid Barbara Walters. Martin wrote that working on his memoirs helped him “free myself from things I was carrying within me for a long time.” In fear of losing his career, he kept the truth about his sexuality from the public. In 2000, Barbara Walters asked Martin point-blank if he was gay and he refused to answer the question. Walters later said the question was one of her major professional regrets. “In 2000, I pushed Ricky Martin very hard to admit if he was gay or not, and the way he refused to do it made everyone decide that he was. A lot of people say that destroyed his career, and when I think back on it now I feel it was an inappropriate question.” Career-destroying or not, Martin is celebrating his newfound freedom. “This kind of truth gives me the power to conquer emotions I didn’t even know existed,” he wrote.