Most of my fears were in my head, says Ricky Martin on coming out

“I love Brazil,” says Ricky Martin, 52, almost immediately upon hearing that the journalist is Brazilian. The Puerto Rican, who has been breaking hearts in the country since, at the age of 12, he joined the group Menudo —which had an unusual and resounding success here in the 1980s— and was one of the pioneers of Latin pop in English, even at the end from the 1990s, when he put “Livin’ La Vida Loca” at the top of the charts, more recently and although in a leap year, he has been reinventing himself as an actor.

After receiving an Emmy nomination for supporting actor for his participation in “American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace” (2018), he returns to the world of rich Florida in his latest project, “Palm Royale”, a series that debuts on Apple TV+ on the 20th. This time, the action takes place in Palm Beach in 1969, but, just like when the Italian designer’s boy toy lived in Miami, his physique is extensively explored.

“I’m naked for half the series, what can I do?”, he jokes, who appears in swim trunks and shorts, with his chest exposed, in most of the scenes. “I was like crazy doing push-ups before each scene; I didn’t sleep or eat for two days before filming”, he says, laughing, before admitting: “I’m exaggerating”.

Today, in his fifties (no one can say), he says he’s past the stage of caring about what they think of his figure. “I have my insecurities, but there comes a time when you have to overcome them,” he says. “You come on set in a bathrobe and then you just forget about it. This is my body, let’s do it.”

And it even has an important sex scene, which makes everything even more intimate. “It’s not easy, but in the end you have fun,” he says. “I think it’s like going to a nude beach. I’ve never been to one, but I imagine you get nervous at first and then it goes away. You stop caring. When it’s over, you don’t even want to put your clothes back on (laughs).”

In the plot, Ricky Martin plays Robert Diaz, a very dubious guy. Is he a freeloader? Is he a good-hearted guy? “Wow, this is really dark, but also fun,” he remembers thinking the first time he read the material. “Is that too contradictory? That’s how I felt.”

Robert is a waiter at the Palm Royale, the elite club frequented by the city’s dondocas, but it soon turns out that he also had some kind of relationship with Norma Dellacorte (Carol Burnett), the socialite who was promoting the most anticipated party of the year. With Norma in a vegetative state in a nursing home, he will be the thorn in the side of Maxine (Kristen Wiig), the daughter-in-law who thought her rich mother-in-law’s inheritance was in the cards.

Later, it is discovered that Robert is gay, and lives his sexuality in the closet — as, in fact, was common at the time. Ricky, who made his homosexuality public in 2010, says he understands well the processes his character goes through.

“I had to confront my sexual identity for a long time, because I needed to be accepted, and being myself was not an option, because I thought I would be rejected by the public and the media”, he recalls. “Then one day I said, ‘That’s enough’. I had become a father and I thought it was time to get over it and accept it. And it’s been wonderful ever since. I discovered that most of my fears were in my head.”

“I think that’s something I also take to ‘Palm Royale,’ because Robert is struggling with that as well,” he continues. “And no matter the time, no matter what country you live in, this is something that is imprinted on our systems because of the information that we receive. It’s something that a lot of men and women are dealing with right now and I’m hopeful that the series sheds light on this social issue.”

When comparing acting to music, Ricky says that, for him, playing someone else is like a “psychoanalysis session.” “[Quando estou atuando,] I ask myself a lot of questions as a human being, because I learned that an actor can’t lie,” he says. “I don’t say I’m a liar when I sing, but I’m fascinated by the possibility of being in touch with my emotions, being raw and honest. while I live these moments.”

“I think it’s something that requires a lot of practice and courage,” he says. “I’m not saying I’m the best at it, but I’m working to get there. Little by little I’m finding the tools to achieve a little excellence.”

He admits that he still feels nervous about acting with big names in cinema and television. “When I got on set I was still amazed to be working with so many legends, but this is an incredible feeling”, he says, who says he went to record with the disposition of an apprentice. “The moment you think you know everything, you’re dead.”