NEW YORK - Latin superstar Ricky Martin has become a first time father to twin boys, his publicist revealed on Wednesday.
The 26-year-old star enlisted a surrogate mother to give birth to the children, and the babies were born a few weeks ago. Martin endeavors to take some time off for the rest of the year to be a dad.
"The children, delivered via surrogacy, are healthy and already under Ricky's full-time care," said the statement from his representatives.
"Ricky is elated to begin this new chapter in his life as a parent and will be spending the remainder of the year out of the public spotlight in order to spend time with his children."
The representative offered no further information on the names of the boys.
There's also no word on the identity of the boys' mother who preformed gestational surrogacy, also referred to as the Host method, where the surrogate becomes pregnant via embryo transfer with a child of which she is not the biological mother.
Martin rose to fame as an actor on ABC's "General Hospital," and was a member of Menudo. He went on to become a multiplatinum singer who is best known for English-language hits like "She Bangs!" and "Livin' la Vida Loca."
He has been an advocate for kids, devoting time to charities that work to prevent the sexual exploitation of children. Earlier this year, Ricky travelled to Cambodia to bring light to the issue of human trafficking.
