Ricky Martin has been a global phenomenon for over four decades, dating back to his start with Menudo in his teens to his own solo stardom, and his new forays into acting.
But it turns out the 52-year-old star's four kids didn't really understand his fame till much later. He is a dad to twin sons Valentino and Matteo, 15, and with his ex-husband Jwan Yosef, he shares son Renn Martin-Yosef, four, and daughter Lucia Martin-Yosef, five.
In an appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show, he spoke with the host about when his two oldest finally realized that he was the Ricky Martin, remembering fondly their early days of travel together.
"They've always been traveling with me, they're homeschooled," he shared. "And when they were, like, five or six, I allowed them to go to the front of the stage, [before] it was always overstimulating so I had them backstage."
He included their adorable reaction to putting the pieces together, continuing: "So they went to the front of the stage, and when they came back they were like, 'Oh, got it daddy. You are Ricky Martin.'"
"It was so beautiful!" he gushed, although remarked that the sentiment had changed drastically over time. "But now, it's like, 'Whatever dad, you did it wrong, you gotta do that again.' Now it's a different story."
Ricky most recently starred in the Apple TV+ series Palm Royale, with his twins even joining him for the premiere back in March, and told Kelly further about how preparing to film the series ended up annoying his four children to no end at one point.
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The "She Bangs" singer spoke about learning how to play the trumpet for his character, declaring that he had "mad respect" for trumpet players after learning how hard it actually is to master.
That doesn't mean that it was a seamless practice session, though, especially for his kids. "My kids hated me for three months," he shared with a laugh, because he was playing "all the wrong notes. If I could hit two notes, I was happy!"
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In a recent conversation with The Los Angeles Times, he spoke about his difficult year following his split from Jwan after six years of marriage and navigating life as a single dad.
"I went through so much last year," he said. "I went through a divorce, I changed managers, I went through family issues. Right now, I'm in such a great place, and I just want to keep it simple and have fun with my kids, enjoy me being single and all that good stuff."
Ricky commented on using that as motivation to find the right material to head back into the studio and make new music, having last released a full-length studio album in 2015.
"I guess it's now all about the input in order for me to be able to go into the studio and work on the output."