Who is Jwan Yosef? Meet Ricky Martin’s Syrian-Born Swedish Painter Husband

Ricky Martin is in the limelight again for all the wrong reasons. After being sued by his ex-manager for $3 million in unpaid commissions, the singer was hit by a restraining order for domestic abuse by someone who is not his husband.

All of this commotion is generating curiosity over the singer’s dynamic with his husband Jwan Yosef. The couple’s relationship flourished on social media and with each picture they post it is very clear that the two are deeply in love with each other.

Who is Jwan Yosef?

Yosef, 37, was born in Syria to a Kurdish family in 1984 but was raised in Sweden. With an aim to become a painter he attended the Pernby School of Painting and Konstfack University College of Arts.

Yosef completed his Masters in Fine Arts in 2011 from Central Saint Martins in London, where he lives today. As per his Instagram, he frequently travels to Los Angeles too, Romper reported.

He is an exceptionally talented conceptual artist who has had solo as well as group exhibitions in London and Stockholm from 2007. In the process Yosef managed to rack up plenty of awards too.

The Swedish painter is also one of the founders of the Bomb Factory Art Foundation in London, an artist-led non-profit organization, created as a platform for upcoming contemporary artists to showcase their talents.

First Meeting with Martin

The couple first met on Instagram, when Martin came across Yosef’s art on his feed. In an interview with SiriusXM Radio, the singer revealed that as an art enthusiast he was impressed by the artist’s work and reached out to him.

“I’m scrolling and I see this beautiful piece of art and I’m like, ‘Whoa, how cool! Who’s this?’ Then I start checking and all of a sudden I’m like, ‘Ooh, ooh.’ And then I wrote to him,” Martin said.

The couple opted for an old school courtship as they spent almost 6 months talking via DMs before meeting each other face-to-face. By just casually conversing about life and existential issues the two had ‘sealed the deal,’ the singer told People.

Adding further he stated that when the pair met for the first time, both of them were struck with the same thought of marrying each other.

“Obviously he only told me later on,” Martin told People. “You have to keep it to yourself at first.”

Public Debut and Marriage

The couple officially announced their relationship in April 2016 by attending the red carpet of the amFAR Inspiration Gala in Sao Paolo, Brazil, where Martin confirmed the news with the simplest of Instagram captions: “Yup,” Oprah Daily reported.

Their modern-day romance entered its next phase after a year and in November 2016 Martin finally got down on one knee.

The news was first revealed on the Ellen DeGeneres Show but no details of the wedding were made public. Soon after this, at the red carpet of the television show, The Assassination of Gianni Versace, in January 2018 Martin announced his marriage.

When asked if he was a fiancé or husband Martin replied that he was a husband and the pair had exchanged vows, USA Today reported.

“I’m a husband, but we’re doing a heavy party in a couple of months. We’ve exchanged vows, and we swear everything, and we signed all the papers that we needed to sign — prenups and everything,” he said

The couple opted for a private ceremony and got hitched in secret back in 2017.

Life After Marriage

With the end of 2018 the pair welcomed a baby girl Lucia Martin-Yosef in their family on December 31, as per their Instagram.

They were already parents to 10-year-old twin boys Matteo and Valentino, that Martin had via a surrogate. In 2019 the singer announced that he and Yosef were expecting a fourth child at the on September 29 and a month later shared the first photo of their son, Renn Martin-Yosef.

Gushing about his family to E! News, Martin says that he’s ‘nowhere close to done’, and hopes for a big band of kids in the future.

The couple is currently planning to organize a lavish wedding ceremony again with their children involved, so to celebrate their love for each other. “I would like to host a huge party and I want the wedding to last for four days,” Martin happily revealed on a Mexican talk show.