Thursday, March 11, 2010

Barbara Walters Worries She Ruined Ricky Martin's Career

Barbara Walters is stepping down from her duties as Oscar interview queen after her final Academy Awards special Sunday, and while she's had an incredibly successful 29-year run, she has one regret.

"In 2000, I pushed Ricky Martin very hard to admit if he was gay or not, and the way he refused to do it made everyone decide that he was," she told the Toronto Star in a recent interview. "A lot of people say that destroyed his career, and when I think back on it now I feel it was an inappropriate question."

In her final special Sunday night, Barbara aired the clip, showing Ricky Martin holding a tight-lipped smile as Barbara presses him on the matter. When she asks how he's handling the rumors that he's gay, he answers ambiguously. "I think that sexuality is something that each individual should deal with in their own way and that's all I have to say about that," he says.

Barbara didn't let it stop there and the segment ends when Ricky says he could address the rumors, but "for some reason I just don't feel like it."

This isn't the first time Barbara has expressed regret about her Ricky Martin interview. In an episode of The View, she talked about lessons she's learned from her interviews. After airing the Ricky Martin clip, she said the lesson she learned was, "Unless someone is openly gay, and happy to talk about it, it's nobody's business -- including mine..."

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