Daily Mail Praises Beyonce's 'Trim Waist' In Her 'Pretty Hurts' Video, Which Critiques Beauty Culture

December 13, 2013, 3:18 pm

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Most of the reactions to Beyonce's new album have been overwhelmingly positive. The Guardian declared that "Beyonce's new album should silence her feminist critics," and the New Statesman praised the artist for using her music to speak out against sexism in the entertainment industry. But while others were celebrating (or debating) the empowering aspects of Bey's latest LP, the Daily Mail felt it was more important to focus on how thin Beyonce is.

This is the headline that ran on a story published this morning about the video for "Pretty Hurts," a song that's lyrics are dedicated to critiquing mainstream beauty culture and the intense pressure placed on women to be "pretty" over everything else:


The "Pretty Hurts" video (scroll down to see a 30-second preview) shows Beyonce as a beauty queen being picked apart by pageant judges and trainers, being told she weighs too much, and putting on a false smile on stage while she pops pills after-hours and watches fellow contestants eat cotton balls instead of food to maintain a certain level of thinness. The lyrics also have a very clear message:

Mama said, you’re a pretty girl / What’s in your head it doesn’t matter / Brush your hair, fix your teeth / What you wear is all that matters ... Pretty hurts / Shine the light on whatever’s worse / Perfection is the disease of a nation / Pretty hurts / Shine the light on whatever’s worse / Try'na fix something / But you can’t fix what you can’t see / It’s the soul that needs the surgery.

Completely ignoring Beyonce's point that we should stop determining the value of female celebrities -- and women in general -- by their body size and conventional beauty, the Daily Mail waxes poetic about how crazy it is that Bey is so "trim" after having a child two years ago. Womp, womp.



Go home, Daily Mail. You're definitely part of the problem.

[H/T Feministing]

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5 Shocking Quotes From Demi Lovato That STILL Make Her A Good Role Model

December 13, 2013, 4:00 pm

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Whether it's speaking up about body image or talking about her road to recovery, Demi Lovato has had a history of being open with her fans -- and this month, she's opened up even more.

Recently, the "Neon Lights" singer has revealed some pretty shocking details about her troubled past while promoting her new book, "Staying Strong: 365 Days a Year." And you know what? We think that's pretty brave of her.

Here are five quotes from Demi that will remind you why she's your role model -- not because of her past, but because of her honesty about everything she's overcome.

1. On choosing not to hide her struggles from her fans...

When I went into rehab, I deleted my Twitter… I didn’t want to force anything. My parents came to visit, and I asked if people knew yet, and they said, ‘Yeah, it’s everywhere.’ And they were like, ‘How do you want to handle this? We can say it’s a personal time and we don’t have to tell them what you’re in here for, or we can just be 100 percent honest and show them that you can get through it and other people can get through it, too.’

[Nylon magazine]

2. On knowing when her addiction became out of control ...

Something I’ve never talked about before, but with my drug use I could hide it to where I would sneak drugs. I couldn’t go without 30 minutes to an hour without cocaine and I would bring it on airplanes.

I was going to the airport and I had a Sprite bottle just filled with vodka and it was just nine in the morning and I was throwing up in the car and this was just to get on a plane to go back to LA to the sober living house that I was staying at…I had all the help in the world, but I didn’t want it. When I hit that moment I was like, it’s no longer fun when you’re doing it alone.

I think at 19 years-old, I had a moment where I was like, ‘Oh my God… that is alcoholic behavior. [It’s] no longer, I’m young and rebellious and out having fun, it was, wow, I’m one of those people… I gotta get my s*** together.'

[Access Hollywood]

3. On getting past Joe Jonas' not-so-nice Vulture article...

My first reaction was, "Well that was stupid." But we are always going to be in each other's lives. I was with Nick [Jonas] today and they are family. I've known them since I was 14, 15 and I have a lot of love for them.

[omg! Yahoo]

4. On her mother's eating disorder struggles...

I'm so proud of my momma @DiannaDeLaGarza for being open and honest about her struggles and how she overcame them... I told you she was my hero. There aren't many parents speaking out about how they got through a time when their child was spiraling out of control and how she was able to set an example for parents everywhere by dealing with issues of her own.

[Twitter]

5. On Miley, Selena and growing up in the spotlight...

My transition was easier because I went straight to rehab. I didn't twerk. I just went to rehab! ... Nobody knows [Miley], and nobody really knows who I am. Same with Selena and Jonas and everyone who has grown up in the public eye. We're actually adults now. I'm 21. What?! That's crazy! I'm nowhere near the same person I was when I was 15 or 16. Thank God. But I've learned a lot and I've grown up, and we're all in the process of doing that. So, go easy on us, America!

["Katie"]

Jennifer Lawrence's Photoshop Job On Flare Cover Makes The Internet Rounds (PHOTO, GIFS)

December 14, 2013, 1:28 pm

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Leave it to the fashion world to find flaws in Jennifer Lawrence's appearance.

A GIF circulating the blogosphere has caused a June 2011 Flare magazine cover of the actress to resurface, bringing the gratuitous Photoshop job to the world's attention. In the resulting cover, it appears as if J.Law has been slimmed down and given protruding collarbones and more prominent, sunken-in cheekbones. Oy vey.

Funny enough, Jennifer might just be one of the most outspoken celebrities when it comes to calling out the pseudo perfectionism of Hollywood starlets as portrayed in the media. Upon seeing her recent ads for Christian Dior, the "American Hustle" star proudly proclaimed, "That doesn't look like me a at all," adding that Photoshop was certainly to blame.

Then, in November, while in conversation with Yahoo! CEO Marissa Meyer, Jennifer explained the issue further. "The world has this idea that if you don't look like an airbrushed perfect model," she said. "You have to see past it. You look how you look, you have to be comfortable. What are you going to do? Be hungry every single day to make other people happy? That's just dumb."

Amen, sister. See the aforementioned GIFs and cover below and tell us: Do you think it's good for us to constantly be seeing images that are the result of such heavy-handed retouching?







More disastrous moments in retouching:


Want more? Be sure to check out HuffPost Style on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest and Instagram at @HuffPostStyle.

Amy Adams Talks Kissing Jennifer Lawrence In 'American Hustle': 'She Has Very Soft Lips'

December 14, 2013, 2:21 pm

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This might come as little shock to all Jennifer Lawrence fans, but apparently the actress is also a spectacular kisser.

Amy Adams, Lawrence's co-star in the upcoming movie "American Hustle," shares a kiss with the 23-year-old blonde on screen. ExtraTv caught up with Adams yesterday (Dec. 13) and got to hear first hand what that was like.

"She does a great job at it," Adams, 39, said. "She has very soft lips. She's a really awesome woman."

In the movie, Adams and Lawrence play the mistress and the wife, respectively, of a con man played by Christian Bale.

"Everyone's chemistry is so electric in this, and even the friendship chemistry between Christian and Jeremy [Renner]'s character, the volatile energy between Jennifer and I, it almost borderlines on intimacy because it's just so immediate, so there," she added.

Adams also spoke of the soon-to-be famous kiss last weekend, at a press conference for the movie. "It didn't just feel like a moment where two girls are going to kiss onscreen -- it felt emotional," she said. "And the laugh [Lawrence] gives after? That was genius."

Lawrence's "Hunger Games" co-star, Josh Hutcherson, also mentioned the actress' smooching abilities last month. "For me, she's like a best friend and a sister, so it's a little bit incestuous," Hutcherson said, "But she's a great kisser -- so, yup, the bar is high!"

Celine Dion's 'Loved Me Back To Life' Ushers In New Single, 'Voice' Appearance, Holiday Special

December 15, 2013, 6:11 am

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Virtually every entertainer has a misfire.

But it's news when an album by one of the best-selling recording artists in history quickly tumbles down the charts. Celine Dion's first all-new English-language album in six years, "Loved Me Back to Life," entered the Billboard 200 at No. 2. But just five weeks later, it's plummeted to No. 35.

"Of course, the record company wants to be the No. 1," said Dion. "They want to sell records. They want to make money. And don't get me wrong, I want to. But I'm proud about what I have done with this record."

According to the Metacritic website, the majority of the album's reviews have been positive. And even some of the negative critiques have paused to praise Dion's emerging vocal maturity.

Over the next few days, millions will hear a sample when she performs her new ballad "Incredible" with Ne-Yo on "The Voice." The pair will perform the mid-tempo ballad live on the Tuesday (9 p.m. ET/PT) season finale of NBC's singing-competition show.

Then on Wednesday, Dion is the principal performer and host of the CBS special "A Home For the Holidays," which underscores the need for children to be adopted from foster care.

"As a mom, I could not refuse (the gig)," explained Dion on Saturday night after the "Holidays" taping.

The singer and her husband René Angélil have three biological sons, all through in-vitro fertilization. "But adoption (had) always been taken into consideration," she added.

The 45-year-old Dion said motherhood is the cornerstone of her life, as well as what propels her career, which also includes a recent return to residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace Las Vegas.

She said she'd like to try acting, but she isn't interested in following Carrie Underwood into the live-TV musical arena. Underwood's "The Sound of Music Live!" was a recent ratings smash for NBC, and the network has announced it's seeking another musical for the small screen.

"I'm not crazy about musicals, to be honest with you," Dion explained. "I don't know why. I prefer to rock on stage."

For Christmas, she'll take a break from rocking at Caesars, instead spending the day in Vegas with "my four boys," she joked, including her 71-year-old husband in the mix. "When we have an opportunity to stay home for the holidays, it's pajamas, home food, simplicity of life."

___

Follow Michael Cidoni Lennox at http://www.twitter.com/CidoniLennox

KISS Guitarist Ace Frehley's House Damaged After Fire Erupts

December 15, 2013, 6:17 am

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YORKTOWN HEIGHTS, N.Y. (AP) — A suburban New York house owned by former KISS lead guitarist Ace Frehley has gone up in flames.

The Journal News (http://lohud.us/1fu8Tcg ) reports that firefighters were called to the stone house in the town of Yorktown Heights late Saturday morning. The home was heavily damaged, with flames burning through the roof.

The newspaper says the musician had been fighting foreclosure on the property in Westchester County Court.

The Red Cross helped a resident with emergency lodging. A neighbor says a caretaker had been living in the home.

It was not clear where the 62-year-old founding member of the famed rock band was at the time of the blaze.

He played with the group until 2002, during what was billed as their farewell tour.

Paul Walker's Funeral Attended By Family And Friends

December 15, 2013, 6:35 am

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Paul Walker's friends and family gathered for his funeral yesterday (Dec. 14), two weeks after he died in a fiery car crash in Santa Clarita, Calif. The memorial service was conducted at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills.

As Radar Online recently reported, Walker's remains were cremated.

A small, private service was held as the "Fast and the Furious" actor was given his final resting place. According to TMZ, Walker's family will hold a larger memorial in the near future, to allow for more loved ones to grieve.

"Today In a room full of your loved ones I wish today was your wedding instead," Walker's "Fast and the Furious" co-star Tyrese Gibson wrote on his Instagram account yesterday. "God has a better plan even beyond ALL of our own understandings...... For selfish reasons we all wanted you to stay, another laugh, another take, another talk, another moment..... I guess you can't get all you ask for in life.... But our hearts are FULL from all the moments we DID have, 13 years of laughter and grace, humility and love..... Never did I take my access for granted.... Continue praying for his #Family, his daughter #Meadow, you are the WORLDS best friend that's why we're all feeling it... #RIHAW •Rest In Heaven Angel Walker•."



Walker died at the age of 40 on Nov. 30, in a crash that also killed his friend Roger Rodas. Thousands of fans have paid tribute to Walker at the scene of the accident.

People Seek Smoking Cessation Information When Celebrities Are Diagnosed With Cigarette-Caused Cancer

December 15, 2013, 7:01 am

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When a celebrity is diagnosed with a smoking-related cancer, interest in quitting smoking among the general public increases, according to a new study.

A team of researchers found that when Brazil President Lula da Silva was diagnosed in 2011 with laryngeal cancer, which he said was caused by smoking, online search activity regarding quitting smoking and media coverage on quitting smoking increased in the days after. Plus, this interest in smoking cessation remained higher than normal even a month after his diagnosis was announced.

"This study is the first to demonstrate that celebrity diagnoses can prompt the public to engage in behaviors that prevent cancer," study researcher Seth M. Noar, a health communication professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said in a statement. "Harnessing this finding will save far more lives than screening alone."

Noar and his colleagues, from the Santa Fe Institute, San Diego State University and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, examined Google news archives to look at media coverage, and also analyzed Googled searches, in the weeks following the announcement of da Silva's laryngeal cancer diagnosis in October 2011. They found that news coverage about quitting smoking rose 500 percent right after his diagnosis was announced, and stayed higher by 163 percent for the week following his diagnosis. During this time, Google searches for quitting smoking also were 67 percent higher than normal.

While media coverage about quitting smoking went back down to normal levels after the week following the diagnosis, Google searches about smoking cessation remained high. Brazil Google searches related to quitting smoking were 153 percent higher than normal two weeks after the diagnosis, 130 percent higher than normal three weeks after the diagnosis, and 71 percent higher than normal four weeks after the diagnosis.

"In practical terms, we estimated there were about 1.1 million more quit-smoking queries in Brazil the month after Lula’s diagnosis than expected," study researcher Benjamin Althouse, an epidemiologist at the Santa Fe Institute, said in the statement.

"Just as celebrity diagnoses promote cancer screening, they may also promote primary prevention," the researchers wrote in the Preventive Medicine study. "Discovery of this dynamic suggests the public should be further encouraged to consider primary (in addition to the usual secondary) cancer prevention around celebrity diagnoses, though more cases, cancers, and prevention behaviors must be explored."

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Kate Hudson Rocks Bright Orange Pants

December 15, 2013, 7:02 am

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Kate Hudson rocks some bright orange pants while arriving for a departing flight on Saturday (December 14) in Sydney, Australia.

The day before, the 34-year-old actress was spotted carrying her adorable son Bingham, who looked cool in sunglasses.

Naya Rivera And Big Sean's Christmas Card

December 15, 2013, 7:11 am

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Naya Rivera and Big Sean go glam in their 2013 Christmas Card, which they have shared exclusively with JustJared.com!

The 26-year-old Glee actress and the 25-year-old rapper will be spending their first Christmas holiday as an engaged couple this year.

Beyonce Performs 'XO' For The First Time At Chicago Show

December 15, 2013, 7:33 am

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Beyonce is wasting no time in incorporating her new album into her tour's setlist. After electrifying the Internet by dropping the 14-song collection at the stroke of midnight on Friday with no prior announcement, Queen Bey is now transferring the royal energy she used to captivate the world to her live performances. She debuted "XO," which will also reportedly serve as the next single released from the self-titled album ("Blow" and "Drunk in Love" are both currently out).

"I'm gonna sing this song, which is a brand new song," Beyonce announced to the crowd on Friday at Chicago's United Center, where she used a call-and-response format to engage the crowd with the unfamiliar track. "It hasn't even been out for 24 hours. I want to sing this to y'all because it was written for y'all."



Beyonce will have ample time to integrate the album into her setlist. The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour has five remaining shows in 2013 before resuming in February and March, when Beyonce will perform 16 gigs in Europe.

Katie Holmes Rocks Short Skirt, New Haircut At Z100's Jingle Ball In NYC

December 15, 2013, 7:40 am

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Katie Holmes made a special appearance at Z100's Jingle Ball 2013 presented by Aeropostale at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Friday (Dec. 13).

The 34-year-old actress turned heads in a short black skirt and studded sweater as she helped introduce Selena Gomez at iHeart Radio's annual music event, which benefited the Ryan Seacrest Foundation.

Holmes also debuted a chic new haircut at the concert. She's now sporting a shoulder-length 'do after ditching her longer locks in November.

Z100’s Jingle Ball was the seventh stop on the national iHeartRadio Jingle Ball 2013 Tour, which also entertained fans in Dallas, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago, Minneapolis, Atlanta, Boston, Washington D.C., Tampa and Miami.

See Katie's Jingle Ball look below:

Look Inside Rosie O'Donnell's $6.375 Million Mansion

December 15, 2013, 7:45 am

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Goodbye, NYC. Hello, New Jersey.

Rosie O’Donnell is trading the city life for suburbia, and she sure knows how to do it right. Just take a look at her new digs!

The former daytime TV queen reportedly plunked down a cool $6.375 million on a massive estate in super-swanky Saddle River, New Jersey, according to Realtor.com.

'Wholock': Sherlock Holmes Meets 'Doctor Who'

December 15, 2013, 7:55 am

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The Doctor's newest companion is... Sherlock Holmes?

That's the question YouTuber John Smith poses with his fan-made video showing what happens when the TARDIS lands outside 221 Baker Street.

The video was made using programs like Photoshop and Premiere, and for being homemade it is impressive to say the least.

Watch the epic meeting of British icons in the video above.

Best Makeup And Hairstyling Oscar Shortlist Includes 'American Hustle' But Not 'Lee Daniels' The Butler'

December 15, 2013, 8:38 am

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The Academy has unveiled the shortlist for the Best Makeup and Hairstyling Oscar, giving us the seven films in consideration for the category's three nominees. Many of the finalists are to be expected, but that doesn't mean the compilation comes without snubs. "Lee Daniels' The Butler," "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug," "Rush" and "12 Years a Slave" -- all Oscar contenders in other categories -- were omitted from the list.

Here's a look at the seven movies that did make the cut. Academy members will select the nominees after a screening on Jan. 11.

"American Hustle"


"Dallas Buyers Club"


"The Great Gatsby"


"Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters"


"The Hunger Games: Catching Fire"


"Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa"


"The Lone Ranger"


Recent winners in the category include "Les Misérables," "The Iron Lady," "The Wolfman" and "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." Founded in 1981, the award has gone to a motley crew of period pieces ("Elizabeth," "Braveheart," "Amadeus"), campy comedies ("Mrs. Doubtfire," "Men in Black," "The Nutty Professor," "Beetlejuice," "How the Grinch Stole Christmas") and big-budget productions ("Star Trek," "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring," "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe").

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Johnny Orris, Winner Of 'Get My Grandpa Laid' Howard Stern Contest, Dies Before Redeeming Prize

December 15, 2013, 8:45 am

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Maybe he's visiting the great big Bunny Ranch in the sky.

Johnny Orris, 86, died on Thursday, hours before he was supposed to redeem his prize for winning Howard Stern's "Get My Grandpa Laid competition," Radar Online reports.

Orris choked on a piece of steak just prior to when he was scheduled to have sex with two women from the Moonlight Bunny Ranch in Carson, City, Nev. where prostitution is legal.

"This is the saddest day in Bunny Ranch history, owner Dennis Hof told TMZ as he sat next to a crying Caressa Kisses, who had selected Orris as the winner.

Orris' grandson, Ed, said his grandpa was looking forward to the big night.

"He was ecstatic,” his grandson said, according to the New York Daily News. “He’d been that way ever since our trip to the Stern show.”

Jennifer Aniston And Kristen Bell Attend Emily Blunt's Star-Studded Baby Shower

December 15, 2013, 8:55 am

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A very pregnant Emily Blunt celebrated her baby shower alongside some famous friends yesterday (Dec. 14).

Kristen Bell, Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux were all pictured arriving to the party, which was held at Blunt and husband John Krasinski's home. Aniston and Theroux are longtime friends of the couple and previously traveled to Cabo with them last December.





Blunt and Krasinski confirmed their pregnancy in September. The 30-year-old actress has since been spotted maintaining a rigorous fitness regimen, including hiking and frequent trips to the gym. She was photographed taking a walk with her dog just hours before her baby shower yesterday afternoon.

Geena Davis Has A Simple Fix For Hollywood's Women Problem

December 16, 2013, 8:15 am

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Geena Davis, the actress who inspired a generation of young women to dream of being baseball stars and the founder of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, has a pretty clear-cut solution to the lack of women in Hollywood films. (To give you an idea of what we're talking about here, just six of the 50 top-grossing films of 2013 starred women, and 20 percent of those 50 movies didn't even have a notable female supporting character.)

Being the magnanimous activist she is, Davis shared her two-step plan in an op-ed for The Hollywood Reporter on Dec. 11.

The first part of her plan involves upping the count of women in featured roles:

Step 1: Go through the projects you're already working on and change a bunch of the characters' first names to women's names. With one stroke you've created some colorful unstereotypical female characters that might turn out to be even more interesting now that they've had a gender switch. What if the plumber or pilot or construction foreman is a woman? What if the taxi driver or the scheming politician is a woman? What if both police officers that arrive on the scene are women -- and it's not a big deal?

And the second part targets the extras:

Step 2: When describing a crowd scene, write in the script, "A crowd gathers, which is half female." That may seem weird, but I promise you, somehow or other on the set that day the crowd will turn out to be 17 percent female otherwise. Maybe first ADs think women don't gather, I don't know.

So to break it down even more simply:


This all sounds pretty easy to us -- especially when you consider, as The Cut's Kat Stoeffel pointed out, that this seemingly elusive gender-swapping has actually happened before without it mattering much at all. (See: "Alien" and "Salt," among others.)

We also can't imagine it would be all that hard to find some female extras to play college students/New York City pedestrians/drag-race enthusiasts/16th-century peasants/any other crowd of humans a screenwriter may dream up.

So get on it, Hollywood. Geena Davis has spoken.

[H/T The Cut]

Brittany Snow's Christmas Carol War Gets A LITTLE Out Of Hand

December 16, 2013, 8:30 am

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Brittany Snow is serious about Christmas.

In this epic sequel to her 2012 caroling parody on Funny Or Die, Snow (or, Marnie) learns it's really not worth fighting over who's the best caroler on the block -- especially when the entire neighborhood finds you both incredibly annoying.

Watch above and be glad that caroling isn't taken this seriously (at least, we hope not).

You'll Never Guess Where Ricky Martin Wants To Get Married

December 16, 2013, 8:48 am

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Ricky Martin could soon be hearing wedding bells -- and he knows exactly where he’d tie the knot with Spanish beau Carlos Gonzalez.

The Puerto Rican star has been raising his twin sons with the help of his long-time partner and in 2011 he received his Spanish citizenship amid rumors he planned to wed in the European country. At the time Martin denied having his heart set on one particular location for his wedding, but now it seems things have changed according to EFE.

"If I were going to marry, I'd love to do it in Spain - there are some spectacular settings for having a great formal wedding," the 41-year-old singer told EFE while in Madrid.

Martin admitted he had in fact applied for citizenship in Spain -- where same-sex marriage was legalized in 2005 -- partially because he considered the possibility of reciting his vows on Spanish soil.

After coming out in 2010, Martin told Larry King he did not discard the possibility of marriage and would liked to have done it in Puerto Rico if the Caribbean Island would legalize same-sex marriage.

"I would get married," he told King, according to Pink News. "There are many countries around the world where same-sex marriage is a right... yes, we could go to Spain and get married. We can go to Argentina and get married. But why do we have to go somewhere else? Why can't I do it in my country where the laws are -- you know, protecting me?"

In the past Ricky has been critical about the Puerto Rican government’s limited view of LGBT rights. In May, the singer released a statement asking for the Caribbean island to pass initiatives that would end discrimination based on sexual orientation in the workplace.

"The same rights for each and every citizen of Puerto Rico, that's what we are asking for, and that's what we hope to achieve, the country of justice and peace we want,” Martin said in the press release. “Puerto Rico has to join all the countries of the world that are at the forefront in human rights and equality.”