The sadness quickly gave way as Ricky landed a role in a Mexican soap opera called Alcanzar Una Estrella II in which he played the role of Pablo. For his work in his next role entitled Mas que Alcanzar una Estrella, Martin won a Heraldo, which is the Mexican version of the Academy Awards. He then returned to his musical roots with the release of his first self titled solo album. The album was one of the highest selling latin debut titles, and Ricky's momentum kept on coming following up with the release of Me Amaras, which illustrated Ricky's continued maturity as an artist and garnered him Best New Latin Artist at the 1993 Billboard Video Awards. Ricky's acting itch still gnawed him and he attempted to star in English television and succeeded with roles in two episodes of the sitcom Getting By and then two years on the hit soap opera General Hospital, in which Martin played as Miguel Morez. Martin bounced back into the music scene again following his General Hospital stint with the release of A Medio Vivir, but his breakthru album was his first English and again self-titled Ricky Martin. What was expected in its initial release was a Dogg fight between him and Snoop, but Martin destroyed Snoop in album sales by a ratio of 6 to 1. Why the huge debut, perhaps Martin's most memorable performance was his breakthru during the 1999 Grammy Awards in which he sizzled with a live performance of his smash hit Livin' La Vida Loca, which was talked about to the same degree as Jennifer Lopez's dress was the following year!

During this huge success though, the number one question about Martin has been is he gay? which has flooded chat rooms and message boards on the net. Certainly several women have come to his defense in this department, including Alejandra Guzman, who's been called the Mexican Madonna, who says to Star Magazine "He wasn't gay with me!" she laughs. "He's not effeminate at all. I never sensed anything unmanly about him. He's a great kisser and his moves are as great as his kisses!" Guzman though left Ricky to return to her former husband, which she says broke his heart, even to the point where Martin got a tattoo of a broken heart on his pelvis to remember her by. Ricky also had romantic ties to a woman who dumped pop rival Enrique Iglesias to shack up with him. Adriana Biega, who was a dancer in his video La Bomba sizzled with Ricky, saying the first time she went to his house "We kissed
passionately on the mouth and couldn't wait to undress each other." Ricky's most serious girlfriend though has been Spanish TV star Rebecca de Alba. Depending on what you believe, the two split either because of De Alba's affair with Spanish singer and TV star Miguel Bose. The romance started most say because Ricky tried to downplay his romance with her, but became infuriated when he learned she had been seeing his friend Miguel. Still, others contend that the two are still very close, but maintain a distance as Sony record executives have told Martin to 'cool it' with his romance to maintain his eligible bachelor status and maintain his hot record sales.

All Ricky's heterosexual romances aside, there is ample evidence that suggests Ricky may prefer his own gender as well. The most direct and credible allegation came in the form of a blind item in the New York Post's gossip column that suggested: Which closeted hunky pop star, who regularly makes the rounds with boyfriends in South Beach, sparked a fiery internal debate at the magazine which recently featured him on its cover? Editors couldn't decide whether or not to out the heartthrob, even though they had the backup to do so. In the end, they didn't, because "it wasn't really relevant to the story. Ricky compounded this by telling Rolling Stone "I want to see the guy bringing his girlfriend to the show and enjoying the music with her. I don't want to see only girls. It's going to sound weird, but that's not the turn on I'm looking for." Ricky also has been romanced by pop icon Boy George, who called Ricky The Dancing Queen. The man behind Ricky's biggest hit is none other than Desmond Child, who is free about his homosexuality and says of him  "Ricky bought a house down the street so he could be close to me and my studio and we meet up at the gym. I mean, he's a real friend." Ricky has walked a careful line to keep his sexuality private, as he more popular in the gay community that even amongst his legion of women fans. His videos are by far the most played in gay bars and legions of them show for all of his live shows, even having Ricky themed parties beforehand.