Cardinal rips on Ricky Martin fathering twins by surrogate

Ricky Martin announced last week that he was the father to several weeks old twin baby boys born through a surrogate, but didn’t provide much more information about it. The 36 year-old singer said he was “elated to begin this new chapter in his life” and from the way his statement was worded it sounded like he would be raising the twins alone, but that wasn’t directly said. It’s possible he has either a female or male partner but doesn’t feel like disclosing that information to the public.

A high-ranking member of the religious community has spoken out about Ricky’s decision to become a maybe-single parent through surrogacy. The cardinal of Honduras says Ricky is somehow buying children like products, which is disrespectful of human life. A Mexican talk show host also calls Ricky selfish for his actions:

The Puerto Rican singer recently fathered twin boys, born to a surrogate mother, who is rumoured to be a cousin of the singer.

And, following on from congratulations from his pop peers, those who aren’t happy about Martin’s new paternal role are speaking out now.

The cardinal of Honduras, Oscar Andres Rodriguez, accuses the singer of going against human dignity.

On a visit to Chile, the Catholic leader said, “What Martin did diminishes the dignity of a human being. You can’t just buy or rent life. It’s even worse when someone famous and in the public eye is doing it.”

And he isn’t alone - Mexican talk show host Esteban Arce has also spoken out against Martin.

On his show Matutino Express, Arce said, “I don’t think it’s right to deny children of maternal figures, just because you have a big ego.”

[From Contact Music]

If the mother really is Ricky’s cousin, the boys may at least have contact with her and know their history when they get older. If it’s his first cousin, though, that brings up all sorts of genetic questions if his sperm was used to inseminate her. (Update: it’s also possible that another woman’s eggs were used and that his cousin was just the surrogate, which would mean there are no genetic issues of course. Thanks Bleeker!)

How is it ego-driven to have children? That’s one of the most selfless things you can do. This guy should be applauded.

On Monday we reported a story that an unnamed magazine editor called Ricky’s new role as a father “icky” because his reasons for doing it were not known. The editor said that magazines are not too eager to publish the photos of the twins because they don’t think Ricky is willing to talk much about it. No one calls it icky when single moms like Sheryl Crow, Meg Ryan and Mary-Louise Parker chose to adopt.

Ricky is shown getting his star on the Walk of fame on 10/16/07. Credit: Nikki Nelson / WENN

Published 8/27/08 by

Cele|bitchy

DISCLAIMER: This posting was submitted by a user of the site not from The Insider editorial staff. All users have acknowledged and agreed that the submission of their story and its contents is in compliance with our Terms of Use.