Ricky Martin and Jwan Yosef are divorcing. Here's what happened during their six year marriage.

After six years of marriage, Ricky Martin and Jwan Yosef have announced their divorce.

The Puerto Rican singer, 51, and 38-year-old Yosef, a Syrian-Swedish artist, made the announcement via PEOPLE this week, vowing to put their children – daughter Lucia, four, and son Renn, three – first.

Martin is also a dad to twin boys Matteo and Valentino, 14.

“We have decided to end our marriage with love, respect and dignity for our children and honouring what we have experienced as a couple all these wonderful years,” they began the statement.

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“Our greatest desire now is to continue having a healthy family dynamic and a relationship centred on peace and friendship to continue the joint upbringing of our children, preserving the respect and love we have for each other.”

Love at first scroll.

Martin first fell head over heels for Yosef after stumbling across the artist’s Instagram page in 2015. 

Martin’s follow quickly turned into a modern romance over the world wide web. “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,” Martin told Ellen DeGeneres in 2018.

The pair made their relationship Instagram official several months after connecting online, when the ‘She Bangs’ singer jetted to London to meet his online love face-to-face.

By 2017, the gorgeous duo were married. 

"I'm a husband", Martin told E! News in 2018. "We exchanged vows, and we've swear [sic] everything, and we've signed all the papers that we needed to sign, prenups and everything."

As it stands today, the singer is worth close to $200 million.

Normalising same-sex parentage.

As a single dad, Martin welcomed his twins in 2008 via a surrogate, and then in 2018, the couple brought their first child together into the world, Lucia, and nine months later Renn arrived. The couple made it their mission to use their public profiles to normalise same-sex parentage.

“I just want to normalise families like mine,” he told Ellen, admitting that he relished in every opportunity to talk about his family and “let the world know that we're good people.”

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The lawsuit.

In July 2021, Martin’s nephew, Dennis Yadiel Sanchez filed a temporary restraining order against his uncle, alleging they'd had a sexual relationship, and that Martin had turned abusive and stalked him after the relationship ended.

Martin vehemently denied the allegations, although it wasn’t until a Puerto Rican judge dismissed the case that the singer was able to speak publicly at length about the ordeal.

Marty Singer, one of Martin’s attorneys, said at the time, “the person who made this claim is struggling with deep mental health challenges."

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“Ricky Martin has, of course, never been – and would never be – involved in any kind of sexual or romantic relationship with his nephew.”

After the case was dismissed, Martin released a public statement directed at Sanchez. “To the person that was claiming this nonsense, I wish him the best – and I wish he finds the help so he can start a new life filled with love and truth and joy – and he doesn't hurt anybody else.”

According to TMZ, in November, Ricky filed a $20 million lawsuit against his nephew, claiming he’d been “persecuted, besieged, harassed, stalked and extorted” by the then-21-year-old.

Family members had sided with Martin throughout the ordeal.

Onwards and upwards.

It will be a huge 12 months for Martin, who not only came out the other side of what could have been a career-cancelling nightmare but has also transitioned from superstar of the stage to comedic actor, amid the divorce.  

He’ll star in Apple TV+'s new period comedy Palm Royale alongside big names Kristen Wiig, Oscar-winners Allison Janney and Laura Dern, and Carol Burnett.

He’ll play the character Robert in the 10-episode series based on the novel by Juliet McDaniel, Mrs. American Pie. It’s Martin’s first TV project since Ryan Murphy’s The Assassination of Gianni Versace.

Feature Image: Getty.