Ricky Martin insists he 'wasn't misleading anyone' when he dated women

Ricky Martin insists he 'wasn't misleading anyone' when he dated women
Ricky Martin.
PHOTO: Instagram/ricky_martin

Ricky Martin insists he "wasn't misleading anyone" when he dated women.

The 49-year-old pop star dated "lots of women" before he came out as gay in 2010, but he's rubbished the suggestion he was being dishonest with his girlfriends and explained that his sexuality is not "black and white".

He reflected: "Sexuality is one complicated thing.

"It's not black and white. It's filled with colours. When I was dating women, I was in love with women. It felt right, it felt beautiful.

"You can't fake chemistry - the chemistry was there with them. I wasn't misleading anyone."

Ricky was asked about his sexuality during an interview with Barbara Walters in 2000, 10 years before he came out as gay.

At the time, he rejected the chance to come out - but he now admits it would've been "great" if he did feel brave enough at the time to do so.

Ricky - who is married to artist Jwan Yosef - told PEOPLE magazine: "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. When it comes to my sexuality, when it comes to who I am, I want to talk about what I'm made of, about everything that I am. Because if you hide it, it's a life-or-death situation."

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Ricky - who is the cover star for PEOPLE's latest issue - also acknowledges that it remains difficult for young people to come out - especially if they're lacking relevant role models in the LBGTQ community.

The Livin' la Vida Loca hitmaker - who was the first mainstream Latin music star to come out - explained: "There are many, many kids out there that don't have someone to look up to. All they have around them is people telling them, 'What you're feeling is evil.'

"But, you can't force someone to come out. But if you have an egg and you open it from the outside, only death comes out. But if the egg opens up from the inside, life comes out."

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