MEXICO CITY (AP) -- 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.