Attitude Legend Award, supported by Virgin Holidays: Ricky Martin
After taking shelter in the shadows as a closeted pop superstar, Ricky Martin has learnt to embrace his sexuality and shine a light for the LGBT+ community.
By Will Stroude
Ricky Martin has been honoured with the Legacy Award supported by Virgin Holidays at the Virgin Holidays Attitude Awards 2018, powered by Jaguar.
The Puerto Rican pop star, 46, remains one of the world’s best-selling artists and for the last eight years has been a powerful public figure for the LGBT community.
Martin, who was nominated for an Emmy for his role as Gianni Versace’s former partner Antonion D’Amico in The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story earlier this year, spent the first half of his career firmly in the closet as the media fuelled a frenzy of speculation about sexuality.
“I was surrounded by a lot of people who loved me, who had been a part of my life for ever, telling me, ‘Rick, don’t come out, you will lose everything’,” the ‘Livin’ La Vida Loca’ singer told us earlier this year.
But come out he did, in an open letter published in 2010 in which Ricky declared himself a “proud gay man”.
The married father of two, who tied the knot with his partner of two years Jwan Yosef at the end of last year, has been an outspoken advocate for the community ever since, shining a light on his own life and experiences to ensure that the next generation of artists are allowed to be themselves from the get go – an oppotunity he was sadly denied.
Read more about the winners from the Virgin Holidays Attitude Awards 2018, powered by Jaguar in the November Awards issue of Attitude, out now.
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