It is never easy to see a marriage end, but divorce can be a necessary step in living your best life. Ricky Martin and soon to be ex-husband Jwan Yosef have apparently come to this difficult conclusion. The pair released a statement to People magazine, announcing their decision to go their separate ways after six years of marriage.
Ricky and Jwan will continue to work together to co-parent their two children. Both men are successful in their respective careers, so perhaps work will come as a welcome distraction while they heal their hearts. Even amicable divorces are not easy.
"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," Ricky and Jwan’s announcement statement begins. "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.”
Ricky and Jwan share two children. Their daughter Lucia was born in 2018. Their son Renn was born in 2019. Ricky also has two additional children, twin boys named Matteo and Valentino, who were born in 2008. He will continue to raise them as a single dad.
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Ricky and Jwan first met via Instagram in 2015. It is unknown who slid into whose DMs. What is known is that six months later, the pair were dating.
Their first official public outing as a couple was at 2016’s amFAR Inspiration Gala. They announced their engagement later that same year. Wedding bells rang in 2018.
Ricky announced their union in an interview with E! News. "I'm a husband, but we're doing a heavy party in a couple of months," he explained. "We exchanged vows, and we've swear everything, and we've signed all the papers that we needed to sign, prenups and everything."
Jwan is a renowned painter and a conceptual artist. In 2013, he won the Threadneedle Prize for exhibiting artists in London and the Beers Contemporary Award for Emerging Art in London. More recently, in 2020, he was awarded the Archiproducts Design Award for his rug series, which drew inspiration from duct tape. He currently works out of a new studio he opened in Los Angeles this year.
Ricky is a singer, songwriter, and actor. This year he is scheduled to take on North America with his Trilogy Tour, along with co-headliners Pitbull and Enrique Iglesias. He is also starring in the new Apple+ series Palm Royale with costars Kristen Wiig, Laura Dern, Allison Janney, and Carol Burnett.
Both men speak multiple languages, a trait they hope to pass on to their children. "We speak Spanish at home, but they also speak English and French. I want them to be exposed to everything,” Ricky told Ellen DeGeneres in 2013. Jwan brought Arabic into the mix. "The way I bring up my babies is that I focus on Arabic rather than English or Swedish," he told My Kali. "I taught my kid how to count to 10 in Arabic and she's only 2, which is wonderful."
Beyond their statement to People, the separated couple also posted on their social media accounts to spread the news about their divorce. They stated they have been thinking about transforming their relationships for some time. They also thanked everyone for their support. A fitting way to end a relationship that social media helped begin in the first place.
