Pop icon and actor Ricky Martin has opened up about the sobering reality many gay men are facing today, saying the current climate feels eerily similar to a time decades past — one marked by fear, rejection, and concealment.
Speaking to USA Today while promoting his latest role in the Apple TV+ dramedy Palm Royale, Martin reflected on how relevant the show’s themes are in 2025. In Palm Royale, he plays Robert, a closeted Korean War veteran working at a high-society country club during the 1960s.
“This is a story of a man, a gay man in [the] late ’60s,” Martin explained. “But unfortunately, we’re dealing with the same fears and the uncertainty and… with the rejection today.”
“Here in America, we’re having to hide again,” he added. “And it’s really sad… It’s crazy that we’re talking about this story of the ’60s, but it’s so relevant.”
Martin’s words arrive during a time of escalating hostility towards LGBTQ+ communities across the globe. Since the current US administration took office, there has been a sharp rise in anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment — both politically and socially. While transgender people have been central targets, the backlash has had widespread effects across the rainbow spectrum.
A recent report from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) found a dramatic surge in anti-LGBTQ+ threats, hate, and violence in the United States, United Kingdom, and Europe. Researchers warn that the current climate represents a dangerous backlash to over two decades of hard-won progress.
Martin knows the cost of silence intimately. Since publicly coming out in 2010 at the age of 38, he has been open about the internal and external pressures that kept him closeted for much of his early life. At one point, he even avoided close friendships with other men to avoid suspicion from fans and industry insiders.
A pivotal moment came when he became a father to twin boys, Matteo and Valentino. Martin recalled how his father — a psychologist — sat him down and gave him a dose of tough love.
“Rick, you need to come out,” his father told him. “What are you going to teach your kids, to lie?”
It was advice that ultimately reshaped Martin’s life, even if those around him weren’t initially supportive. His management at the time tried to talk him out of going public.
“They told me, ‘You don’t need to share — everybody around you knows, your friends know, your family knows. Why do you need to tell the world?’” he recalled in an interview on Andy Cohen Live.
“But they didn’t understand the importance of it,” he said. “Now I see it. I understood before they did how important it is, not only for me, but to be a spokesperson.”
“I wish I could come out 20 times,” Martin added. “It felt amazing. I started crying like a baby.”
