Barbara Walters - Walters Regrets Quizzing Martin About Sexuality

Veteran broadcaster BARBARA WALTERS regrets trying to force RICKY MARTIN to open up about his sexuality in a 2000 interview - because the question may have ended his career.

Walters sat down with the Livin' La Vida Loca hitmaker at the height of his career and demanded to know if he is gay - and now admits it is the one interview she regrets in her lengthy career.

And she fears the "inappropriate" questioning may have had an affect on Martin's pop career.

She tells the Toronto Star, "In 2000, I pushed Ricky Martin very hard to admit if he was gay or not, and the way he refused to do it made everyone decide that he was. A lot of people say that destroyed his career, and when I think back on it now I feel it was an inappropriate question."

The Puerto Rican star, who is a single dad to twin sons, does not comment publicly on his sexuality.