A Look Back at Ricky Martin and Ex-Husband Jwan Yosef's Six-Year Marriage
"I just wanna normalize families like mine," Ricky said.
Updated March 21 2024, 2:56 p.m. ET
When Latin superstar Ricky Martin publicly came out in 2010 — and then went on to become a single father of twins as a single, gay celebrity — it was a pretty big deal. The "Livin' La Vida Loca" singer eventually found love with Jwan Yosef and got married, with the pair welcoming two more children together. Though Ricky and Jwan got divorced, they said they ended their marriage with "love, respect, and dignity for [their] children."
Below, we look back at their relationship.
Ricky Martin and husband Jwan Yosef got married in 2017 after first connecting online in 2015.
In a modern-day love story, Ricky first met Jwan — a Syrian-born Swedish painter and artist — via Instagram when the singer stumbled upon the artist's work.
“I’m scrolling and I see this beautiful piece of art and I’m like, ‘Whoa, how cool! Who’s this?’ Then I start checking and all of a sudden I’m like, ‘Ooh, ooh.’ And then I wrote to him,” Ricky explained on SiriusXM Radio Andy.
The pair communicated via DM for six months before they ever spoke to one another.
“We talked about art — nothing sexy ... I swear, nothing sexy. It was all about art and life in general. He used to live in London, I went to London and I met him," Ricky said.
Ricky and Jwan started dating in 2016 and by November of that year, the "She Bangs" singer revealed they were engaged during an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
The couple low-key tied the knot in 2017 — something that Ricky didn't publicly share until after the fact.
"I'm a husband, but we're doing a heavy party in a couple of months, I'll let you know," he told E! News in January 2018. "We exchanged vows, and we've swear [sic] everything, and we've signed all the papers that we needed to sign, prenups and everything."
He added, "It feels amazing! I can't introduce him as my fiancé. I can't. He's my husband. He's my man."
Ricky Martin has four children — and he previously said he hoped to have even more with Jwan.
Ricky welcomed his twin boys, Matteo and Valentino, as a single father in 2008. After he and Jwan tied the knot, they added a daughter, Lucia, to the family in December 2018, followed by a son, Renn, in October 2019.
At one point, Ricky and Jwan hoped to add to their family.
"Yes, we want more. There are embryos frozen," the told People in June 2021. "I remember every Sunday in my grandparents' house — we were 34 grandkids. I always said, 'One day, I want to open the door to my house and see many kids running at me saying, 'Daddy, Daddy, Dad!' That's something I've always dreamed of."
In June 2021, the singer graced the cover of People magazine's Pride Issue and opened up more about his family.
"I'm very happy. People ask me, 'How do you feel [about being on the magazine cover]?' Well, you know what, every time I have the opportunity to No. 1, talk about my family and let the world know that we're good people, and how we feel and love is really — I just wanna normalize families like mine," he said at the time on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
Ricky continued: "It's very interesting, but a lot of people tell me, 'Ricky, thank you so much just for posting that picture with you and your husband and your kids. That made me feel better about myself.'"
Ricky Martin and husband Jwan Yosef announced in July 2023 that they were getting divorced.
"We have decided to end our marriage with love, respect and dignity for our children and honoring what we have experienced as a couple all these wonderful years," Ricky and Jwan told People.
They went on: "Our greatest desire now is to continue having a healthy family dynamic and a relationship centered on peace and friendship to continue the joint upbringing of our children, preserving the respect and love we have for each other."
The following month, People reported that the couple had reached a settlement.