As an openly gay man, Ricky Martin has been on the receiving end of homophobic slurs so it might surprise you to hear that he was once the one making them.
Ricky, 41, has revealed he “bullied” gay men when he was a teenager growing up in Puerto Rico.
“I look back now and realise I would bully people who I knew were gay,” Ricky told the current issue of GQ Australia.
“I had internalised homophobia. To realise that was confronting to me. I wanted to get away from that.”
Ricky said his struggle with his sexuality lingered until he became a father to twin boys Matteo and Valentino in 2008.
“I didn’t want them growing up in a house of lies or thinking that there was something wrong with being gay,” he said.
Ricky came out in a statement on his website in 2010.
“I am proud to say that I am a fortunate homosexual man,” he wrote. “I am very blessed to be who I am.”
