Ricky Martin & Lee Daniels write letters to their kids

Celebrity gay dads Ricky Martin and Lee Daniels have written heart-warming letters to their children.

The letters were part of a series published by Time written by well known figures ahead of Father’s Day on Sunday.

“From the first moment you were in my arms, I have told you how incredibly grateful, honoured and blessed I am to be your father. But I don’t believe I ever told you how you changed my life,” Martin, 43, told his sons, six-year-old twins, Matteo and Valentino.

“Above all, my beautiful sons, your love gave me the strength to live an honest life. A life of courage and transparency, which fills me with great pride and peace. What an amazing gift you have given me, and I’m forever thankful to you.

“If there is anything I want you to live with, aside from knowing that you are unconditionally loved and adored by me and our family and friends, it is that you can be YOURSELF. Don’t ever let anyone or anything make you feel like you can’t be your true self,” he wrote.

In a letter to his adopted children, Clara and Liam, Daniels, who directed the Oscar winning Precious and created the hit show Empire, urged them to “live in the most honest way you can.”

“My dad didn’t know how to tell me he loved me. I know that he did, in his way. But he never told me,” wrote Daniels, 55.

“I look at your world, and I see one so much different than the one I grew up in. You’ve got a dad that’s black and a dad that’s white. You grew up knowing same-sex couples. So your understanding of sexuality, of race — it’s just not that of where I come from. And I learn from you every day because of it.”

He went on to say: “Tomorrow is not promised. So you must live in the most honest way that you can, being as kind as possible to other human beings. That’s really the only advice I can give you, because you’re so good at giving me advice. That’s how incredible you are.”