Ricky Martin hangs out with Hudson Williams in Milan and the internet is bewitched

And Williams parties after making his runway debut.

Mark Mark
Jan 19, 2026 - 19:00
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Ricky Martin has gone viral by posting a photo of himself with Hudson Williams, one of the stars of Heated Rivalry.

Both men were in Milan, Italy, over the weekend. Williams was invited to participate in the DSquared2 runway show during Milan Fashion Week.

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According to an Instagram post from Martin, Williams also found himself sitting next to the Latin superstar at a dinner thrown by the family of the late Giorgio Armani.

“Pre-show dinner in Milan,” said Martin. “Good food, better conversations, excellent seat neighbor: @hudsonwilliamsofficial. Appreciate the invite, @giorgioarmani family.”

Williams was among those to reply, saying, “Fabulous conversation”, and adding a loveheart emoji.

Hudson Williams replies to Ricky Martin

Perhaps they discussed acting or how to navigate sudden fame. Although Martin enjoyed fame in Latin America in his teenage years, he shot to global superstardom in 1999, aged 22, with the release of “Livin’ La Vida Loca”.

The post enjoyed over 210k likes on Instagram within 12 hours, and more on X and Threads.

Williams walks the Milan runway

Williams’ appearance at the DSquared2 show was a stroke of attention-grabbing genius on the part of head designers Dean and Dan Caten, but there was some logic behind it. The identical twins are Canadian, and their latest collection had a clear winter sports inspiration. Milan is also about to host the Winter Olympics, with many more eyes on ice hockey than usual thanks to the hit Crave/HBO Max show.

As for how his appearance went down, some thought Williams’ catwalk was a little stiff. GQ jokingly asked whether it was Williams walking the runway or his HR character, Shane Hollander.

Fashion photographer Liliia Sharipova was among those to defend Williams’ turn at modeling.

“He did fine,” she said, pointing out Williams “wasn’t invited to be a model. He was invited because he’s Hudson Williams — one of the most talked about celebrities at the moment. Nepo babies are getting opportunities like this left and right without having any personal accomplishments under their belt. He actually deserved this with his talent and personality.”

Williams was also spotted out shopping in Milan and partying at a DSquared2 afterparty. Below, he’s dancing with one of the Caten twins.

Heated Wizardry

In other Heated Rivalry-related news, SNL produced one of its funniest videos of the current season with its ‘Heated Wizardry’ spoof on Saturday night. It featured guest host Finn Wolfhard and Ben Marshall as Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, swooning over each other’s wands

Meanwhile, expect bedlam in New York’s Washington Square Park next Sunday when a Heated Rivalry lookalike competition is reportedly scheduled.

Russell T Davies

Lastly, as we’ve previously reported, the show only made its debut in the UK in the last couple of weeks. Russell T. Davies, the creator of Queer As Folk, has now watched it and given his opinion.

On Instagram Davies said, “LOVED THIS. Absolutely excellent! Yes, gay, okay, hooray, but never mind the sex, this is a love story, a great big classic love story. And it’s a really classy production, great acting, direction, lighting, music, design … And so many gorgeous details. Too many pillows on the bed. The camera’s gay gaze (that’s so rarely done right). Men watching TV with their hands down their pants.

“And it’s such bold storytelling – the wild swing of Ep.3, the rabble-rousing joy of Ep.5, the sheer patience of Ep.6. Sometimes there’s a fabulous lack of drama; traditional confrontations have all the steam taken out of them, replaced by proper, adult conversation. A gorgeous show, and in an age when @glaad reports LGBTQ+ representation falling under a hostile regime, Canada surges ahead into a bold new world. Magnificent!”

Heated Rivalry showrunner Jacob Tierney was among those to respond, saying “❤❤❤ my king ????‍♂️ thank you so much for this.”

Actor Francois Arnaud also responded with a string of loveheart emojis.

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