Ricky Martin
Defends Right Of Pop Stars To Come Out Of The Closet
30 Mar 2007- Mexico City- Ricky Martin
defended the right of pop stars to come out of the closet, saying he felt
solidarity with Christian Chavez of Mexican band RBD, who recently said publicly
that he is gay.
"Life is too short to live closed up, guarding
what you say," said Martin whose sexual orientation has been the subject of
speculation in an interview with The Associated Press. Christian "has to be free
in many aspects. I wish him much strength."
Martin, who was named person of the year in
2006 by the Latin Recording Academy, has hits including "Livin' la Vida Loca"
and "Shake Your Bon-Bon."
He said his nonprofit Ricky Martin Foundation
inspires him in his songwriting. One of the foundation's programs, People for
Children, works toward the elimination of human trafficking, especially
trafficking of children.
"When you start to work with social problems,
it gets the attention of the media and people think it's a farce," the
35-year-old singer said. "It's a spiritual search. The philanthropic work helps
me write music and the music helps me in the philanthropic work."
Martin said it was great that more celebrities
are working with charities. "If this is a fashion, then I hope a lot more
fashions like this come along." He will tour the U.S. in April and May.
RBD, which spun off Mexico's wildly popular
soap opera, "Rebelde," has achieved success throughout Latin America and among
Spanish speakers in the United States.
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