Ricky Martin and Jwan Yosef are divorcing after six years of marriage.
The Puerto Rican singer and the Syrian-Swedish artist announced their split in a joint statement to PEOPLE Magazine on Thursday, July 6. They said despite splitting; they will amicably co-parent their children.
“We have decided to end our marriage with love, respect, and dignity for our children and honoring what we have experienced as a couple all these wonderful years,” the pair said.
“Our greatest desire now is to continue having a healthy family dynamic and a relationship centered on peace and friendship to continue the joint upbringing of our children, preserving the respect and love we have for each other.”
The pair first connected through Instagram in 2015, and after months of chatting online, Martin met Yosef for the first time in person in London on a trek.
In 2016, the Livin’ La Vida Loca singer appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and revealed that he got engaged to Jwan. In 2018, the couple tied the knot in a secret ceremony.
“I saw his art and I went crazy because I really love what he does. Really original. And I contacted him and then I collected him,” Ricky told Ellen after their engagement.
In 2018, the Claridad singer told E! News that he and Yosef got married in a secret ceremony and were very happy about their union.
“I’m a husband, but we’re doing a heavy party in a couple of months,” he said. “We exchanged vows, and we’ve swear [sic] everything, and we’ve signed all the papers that we needed to sign, prenups and everything.”
The couple shares two children together – their daughter Lucia was born in 2018, and son Renn was born in 2019.
Ricky is also a dad to two older twin sons via a surrogate – Matteo and Valentino, both 15.
Both Ricky and Jwan speak multiple languages and have often shared their plans to pass on their linguistic flexibility to their four kids.
“We speak Spanish at home, but they also speak English and French,” Martin said during an interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in 2013, after revealing that his twin sons, Matteo and Valentino, were enrolled in a French school. “I want them to be exposed to everything.”
Meanwhile, Yosef once told My Kali, “The way I bring up my babies is that I focus on Arabic rather than English or Swedish. I taught my kid how to count to 10 in Arabic and she’s only 2, which is wonderful.”
Speaking to Ellen, Ricky, real name Enrique Martin Morales once said that he wanted to ‘normalize families with two fathers.’
“I just want to normalize families like mine,” he said. “I know it’s very interesting for a lot of people who tell me ‘Thank you Ricky for posting that picture with you and your husband and your kids. That made me feel better about myself.”
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Sources: PEOPLE – Ellen DeGeneres Show
