Ricky Martin said he “felt violated” and suffers from PTSD from a 2000 Barbara Walters interview in which she pressured him to answer whether he was gay.
“When she dropped the question, I felt violated because I was just not ready to come out,” the 49-year-old singer revealed to People magazine in a piece published Wednesday.
“I was very afraid,” he added, getting shaken up and shifting in his seat thinking about the moment 11 years later, the outlet noted. “There’s a little PTSD with that.” (RELATED: Jenny McCarthy Compares Barbara Walters To ‘Mommie Dearest’ In Tell-All Book About ‘The View’)
Ricky Martin reveals feeling PTSD over past Barbara Walters interview where she asked him to come outhttps://t.co/QFCtPYeFyM
— Fox News (@FoxNews) June 3, 2021
A decade later the “Livin’ La Vida Loca” singer would come out publicly about being a gay man following years of rumors and speculation. (RELATED: Barbara Walters Reportedly Threatened To Quit ‘The View’ If Rosie O’Donnell Re-signed)
“A lot of people say, what would you do differently?” Martin explained. “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 … I want to talk about what I’m made of, about everything that I am,” he added. “Because if you hide it, it’s a life-or-death situation.”
After Ricky came out, Walters admitted the question was “inappropriate,” the Toronto Star reported.
“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,” the broadcaster shared at the time.
“A lot of people say that destroyed his career, and when I think back on it now I feel it was an inappropriate question.”