Family love on the brain: Rihanna praises motherhood, ‘great’ ASAP Rocky romance
Rihanna had plenty to say about raising her two young sons and her high-profile romance with rapper ASAP Rocky in a recent interview. About new music? Not so much.
The “Love on the Brain” pop superstar, 36, gave off big mom energy as she got candid about her personal life in a new cover story for Interview magazine. In conversation with Interview editor and her former stylist Mel Ottenberg, Rihanna dished on raising sons RZA and Riot — from the staples in their YSL duffle-turned-diaper bag to the nursery rhymes that get them up and dancing.
“I can’t believe I have two babies,” she said.
Months after revealing she was pregnant during the Super Bowl halftime show, Rihanna has welcomed her second child with ASAP Rocky.
The singer and makeup mogul’s cover story went live six months after she welcomed baby Riot with ASAP Rocky in August 2023. Rihanna revealed her pregnancy during the 2023 Super Bowl halftime show, which at the time was her first live show in seven years.
Rihanna and her “Fashion Killa” rapper boyfriend welcomed their first child, RZA (named after the Wu Tang Clan founding member) in May 2022. The Fenty Beauty creator and ASAP Rocky’s (whose real name is Rakim Athelaston Mayers) romance was a bit touch-and-go, literally, Rihanna told Interview.
She said she first met the would-be father of her children, 35, at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2012 where “he grabbed my a—!”
Nearly one year after his birth, the name of Rihanna’s child with ASAP Rocky has been revealed. She is currently pregnant with a second child.
“When he grabbed my a— that night... my team was worried that I wanted to have his head on a f— mantle,” she recalled. She added, “That’s why everybody was like, ‘Oh my God. She likes him.’”
The “Diamonds” singer and Rocky were in the same social circles, but did not seriously begin dating until the end of 2019, she revealed. Even then, they took things slowly and with “a lot of caution” as they understood “we can make or break each other’s hearts.”
Then the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in 2020 and accelerated their relationship, Rihanna said.
“Had it not been for COVID, we would’ve taken a lot more time to get comfortable with each other, to even know that we were ready,” she said.
The pop superstar played her first show in years — and sparked immediate speculation online about her family — in her halftime performance at Super Bowl LVII.
The nine-time Grammy winner added: “I mean, we didn’t even really talk about [starting a family]. There was no denying it. It was the best thing that ever happened to us. It just happened.”
Before Rocky, Rihanna was previously linked with businessman Hassan Jameel, rappers Drake and Travis Scott, R&B singer Chris Brown and others. Things were different with Rocky, she said.
“When someone sees you completely, and believes in you, and thinks you’re worthy of being the mother of their kids, it’s a great feeling,” the Savage X Fenty boss continued. “I felt the same about him. I knew he would be a great dad.”
Despite sparking engagement rumors, Rihanna and ASAP Rocky are not betrothed and have not said their “I Do’s.” But, they did partner for a Fenty Beauty lip balm in February. In her Interview chat, the billionaire poked fun at her partner’s card game tactics, and praised his “shirt up over the nose” diaper-changing strategy.
Rakim Mayers and Terell Ephron, better known as ASAP Rocky and ASAP Relli, met in high school in New York. But one November night in 2021, tensions erupted into a fight on a Hollywood sidewalk. Ephron testified that Mayers shot him, grazing his hand.
The cover story saw the singer muse on a variety of topics including “Real Housewives” drama, plastic surgery, keeping her inner social media troll at bay, her L.A.-based gynecologist and her family.
“The only thing that I knew I wanted [10 to 15 years ago], or that I could imagine, was motherhood,” she said. “I didn’t know how it would come, but it is the best part of my journey so far. Everything else was a surprise.”
The “Umbrella” hitmaker, who said she’s open to having as many kids as “God wants me to have,” also addressed queries about new music. Her most recent solo album was 2016‘s “Anti.” Hesitant to share too much about what’s in the works, Rihanna said “my brain is working backward right now.
“I usually have the music first, and the music leads me into all of these visual opportunities, and now I’m having all of these visuals, and I don’t have the songs for them yet,” she said. “Maybe the visual ideas are leading me to the songs that I need to make.”
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