Bethke was born on 12 March 1980 in Nairobi, Kenya, as Ricardo Arap Bethke Galdames. In the African language "Arap Bethke" means "Bethke's son." His father is Claus Bethke and is German. His mother's name is Patricia Galdames and she is of Chilean origin. He lived in Nairobi until he was 5 years old. His father worked at the United Nations, so this caused them to move from one country to another. At a very young age, he arrived in Mexico where he lived all his childhood and adolescence. He attended high school at Peterson College. and later studied at the Universidad Iberoamericana, where he graduated with a degree in communication. He has two brothers and a sister with an unknown name who was born in Washington, United States, and a brother who was born in Ecuador named Beto Bethke. Bethke speaks four languages: Spanish, English, Italian and French. He calls himself "Mexikenian", since he was born in Kenya, but has Mexican nationality.
