Please welcome Ricky Martin.
(cheering and applause)
What's up? (laughs)
Yeah.
Thank you.
Thank you so... Boricua.
Yeah.
(cheering and applause)
There are Puerto Ricans here.
Yeah. You got, you got some fans in the house.
-You got fans everywhere. -From Puerto Rico?
Anyone from Puerto Rico?
-Yes, how nice. -(whooping)
Welcome to the show.
-Thank you for having me. -So good to have you.
-Look where we are. How cool. -I'm shocked, I'm shocked
that you have the time to be here.
You are doing so many things.
You're performing all over the world.
-You're back in Vegas now? -It's busy, it's busy.
-Yes, we are. We're going back to Vegas, -Yeah?
-my second season for my residency. -That's exciting.
We start in March, really exciting.
How many shows do you do there for your residency?
Like, during the week. Do you... ?
So it's gonna be from March until July.
-Wow. -But it's, uh,
you do ten shows and you take a break,
and you do another ten shows and you take a break.
It's not like Broadway. Broadway is insane.
-You know, it's very intense. -Oh, ten shows
-It's very intense. -and then a break is...
-Yeah, that's not insane at all. -(laughs)
But we take a break.
I'm just really excited, man.
Vegas has-has been amazing for me.
I'm doing Gianni Versace, the-the series.
My family's doing amazing.
We're traveling a lot.
There's a lot going on.
Let's, uh, let's talk about this series.
Um, it's a story that a lot of people have been waiting for.
You know, with the story O.J.,
uh, people felt like it was, it was a story
that didn't just go into a murder,
but it was a tale that talked about race.
The story of Gianni Versace is one that cannot be separated
-from the story on how treat-- -Mm-hmm.
-people treat the LGBTQ community. -That's true.
Was this important for you to be a part of the story?
That's one of the reasons why I said, "Yes,
I need to be part of this."
There's a lot of injustice
in the Gianni Versace story,
and when Ryan Murphy called me, uh, and he told me
everything that we were gonna be talking about,
I said, "Yes, definitely, I want to be here.
But, of course, I want to be part of your show."
-I mean, it's, uh... -Right.
I mean, I'm working with Penélope Cruz,
Édgar Ramírez, I'm working with Darren Criss.
-People that I love, people that I respect. -Right.
And the story is amazing. It is fascinating.
I mean, it's not how he died.
It's why he died.
Why did we allow that to happen?
I mean, um, Andrew Cunanan, the killer,
he was on the list of most wanted by the FBI.
He was living in Miami.
He was not hiding...
and they never got him.
When you look at Gianni Versace's life,
you look at someone who was so powerful,
-someone who was so revered -Mm-hmm.
and yet, at the same time,
-a human being who struggled to come out. -Yes.
Now, there is often a misconception
in that coming out is easy for anyone.
People go like, "It's easy. Just come out."
-It's always easier, it seems. -Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
Is this a part of a story
that related to you as Ricky Martin?
My friend, you have no idea how...
You know, it took me a while. It took me...
The thing is, I-I was surrounded by friends
that were telling me, "Don't. Don't come out.
-That will be the end of your career." -Wow, your friends?
-People that love me, people that mean well. -Right.
People-people that were just victims of homophobia.
We... I was... You know, I grew up in this culture
telling me that my feelings were horrible,
-that my feelings were evil. -Right.
And if you add to that the fact I was...
you know, like, a...
like, a heartthrob, like, a sex symbol...
Oh, yeah, that's... Definitely. That's true.
-Everybody told me... -Oh, no, that's true.
-Ah, thank you. -Oh, no, no, no, no. That's true.
-That's true. -No, but everybody was telling me,
-"It's gonna be the end of your career." -Right.
And, uh, and it was extremely painful for me
until I said, "I can't take it anymore.
It's all about me now."
It's not about what's happening outside.
-Right. -It's about what I need in order for me to be happy.
Then I had my kids, and then I said,
"I have to come out." I mean, am I gonna lie
-to these beautiful kids? -That's so beautiful.
To-to lie? No, that's not the point.
And-and then life works in cycles.
It's very interesting. Look what I'm doing today.
I'm talking still on behalf of people that are being hurt
through acting, so it's really special.
That-that is an amazing story
because you say that you went into something
-that was about yourself, -Mm-hmm.
and in the end, it feels like it ended up
becoming about other people.
Which is sort of the story of your life,
because in many ways, you know,
Puerto Rico has been you going into a story of yourself.
-Yeah. -And now you look at what happened
-to the island after the disaster. -Mm-hmm.
And am I... am I correct in saying
you have helped raise over $5 million?
And we are still raising. And we are still.
-(cheering and applause) -Yeah.
Unfortunately...
(chuckles wryly) Trevor, it's been more than three months,
and there are still 1.4 million people in Puerto Rico
living without electricity, without running water.
Kids aren't going to school
because, obviously, there's no electricity,
-and there's no water in school. -Right.
And me with my foundation and an alliance
that I want to create with Habitat for Humanity,
I just want... I just want to start building homes.
-That is the next phase. -Right.
And my foundation and hundreds of men and women
volunteering to... since day one
to make Puerto Rico a better place,
it's something that I will always be so thankful.
But more thankful I am to every one of you
that went and donated five dollars here,
-ten dollars there, $15 here. -Right. Right, right.
And then, of course, big corporations, as well,
but at the end of the day,
it was people from all over the world
hoping for the best for Puerto Rico.
If, uh, people want to donate,
they want to help out the foundation,
want to help out Puerto Rico, what can they do?
Youcaring.com/rickymartin.
You can go, and you can donate a dollar
to $100, $10,000, whatever you want.
So, we can check out the Ricky Martin Foundation.
We can go to your Instagram. We'll find that link.
-Thank you, for everything, Ricky. -God bless you, man.
-Thank you for being on the show. -Thank you so much.
-Thank you! -The Assassination of Gianni Versace:
-American Crime Story will debut on FX -Wow!
17 of January at 10:00 p.m.
Ricky Martin, everybody.