Ricky Martin has always kept his personal life quiet. He's been with women. He's been photographed with very good-looking, muscular young men on the beach more than once, too. His refusal to talk about his personal life or sexual preferences is hardly unusual. But his current situation is.

Ricky's reps recently announced that he was the proud papa of twins delivered via surrogate. They were shopping baby pictures to the tabloids, seeing what they could get for a few shots and a couple of lines about his newfound joy, his life now being complete, being tired and weepy, etc. You know, the standard spread. Just change the names and you're all set. The tabloids, however, weren't biting. Why? Because Ricky wouldn't open up. They wanted all the details: who he's with now, who the surrogate is, did he get the idea from Clay Aiken ... and Ricky refused. The tabloids said, "Never mind," and sent his people packing. Without the background, there is no story, nothing to tell the reader. It just wasn't worth it.

Adding insult to injury, the Catholic church jumped into the fray, condemning him from bringing children into an alternative lifestyle. Um, who asked you? Unless Ricky asked the Cardinal to intercede somehow in his behalf I don't believe His Holiness was asked for his opinion.

So Ricky can't sell his baby pictures unless he tells all about his private life. Oh, well. It's probably just as well. That nasty little tidbit about the surrogate being his cousin probably wouldn't go over too well.