Ricky Martin says Barbara Walters' question about his sexuality left him feeling 'violated'

In a cover interview for PEOPLE, out singer-actor Ricky Martin discusses how he felt when Barbara Walters asked him about his sexuality in 2000.

Martin came out gay in 2010 after dodging rumors about his sexuality for years.

"You could stop these rumors," Walters told Martin in the interview. "You could say, 'Yes, I am gay or no I'm not.'"

"Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to express the rumors but for some reason I just don't feel like it," Martin responded.

Martin, who is raising four children with his husband Jwan Yosef, told PEOPLE that he was not ready to come out in 2000.

"When she dropped the question, I felt violated, because I was just not ready to come out," he said. "I was very afraid. There's a little PTSD with that."

"A lot of people say, what would you do differently? Well, maybe I would have come out in that interview. It would've been great because when I came out, it just felt amazing."

"When it comes to my sexuality, when it come to who I am, I want to talk about what I'm made of, about everything that I am. Because if you hide it, it's a life-or-death situation," Martin said.

Walters has since called the question "inappropriate."

For more from Ricky Martin on the cover of PEOPLE, pick up our Pride Issue, on newsstands everywhere Friday.