Ricky Martin is totally cool with being a sex symbol: “Fantasize about me however you want”

I have to go back to Menudo, because we were five teenagers—the more we moved, the more the girls would scream. And it was a competition. So even though we were brothers and we supported each other, every time we had a solo song, we had to show off.

So we were trained to play with that sensuality at a young age. Adding to that, the fact that we’re from the Caribbean and there’s something in the water, there’s something in the air.

I don’t know. Look at reggaeton today and people dancing, how sexy it is, and the merengue, and the salsa. It’s something that we can’t fight. We’re born with it, and we should not be afraid of it.

Now the sex symbol situation’s sometimes annoying because you say, ‘Yeah, I want people to take me seriously for my work, and my music, and for the parts that I do,’ and then you have my mom that tells me, ‘Ay, nene, please. Be proud of what you have, and everything will come afterwards.’

So I guess we can’t fight it. It is what it is. And the perception, we throw something out there and the audience can make of it whatever they want. And I guess fantasize about me however you want to. [Laughs] I really don’t mind. 

Ricky Martin, 52, speaking to actress Zoe Saldana in Interview Magazine about how he grew comfortable throughout his career with everyone thirsting after him.