Ricky Martin was scared to come out as gay

The `Livin` La Vida Loca` singer revealed his sexuality last year in an emotional message on his website and admits it took him years to be honest with his fans and himself because of societal and career pressures.

He said: "Being Ricky Martin back then and what I was feeling were not compatible. I was the sex symbol and I needed to dance and I needed to make girls crazy and I couldn`t say that I was gay. It was a lot of struggle.

" If you add to that whether you call it culture, religion, society but what I was feeling, according to what I had in my mind, was evil and I`m very lucky today that what I have in my mind is love and I`m very happy."

Ricky - who had twin sons Matteo and Valentino in August 2008 via a surrogate mother - was surprised at how little some people cared when he came out as a gay man, but accepts he had to wait until he felt the time was right to reveal he is homosexual.

During an appearance on `The Tonight Show with Jay Leno`, he explained: "[Many people said] `yeah what`s new?` But it is about what I was feeling. And my own fears and my struggles and I know there are a lot of men and women out there that are struggling with that."

sections: Celebrities