After announcing her second pregnancy at the Super Bowl, Rihanna’s growing family is making more news this week – she is on the cover of British Vogue alongside her partner, A$AP Rocky, and their son.
Rihanna, whose real name is Robyn Rihanna Fenty, just came off performing at halftime for Super Bowl LVII – her first solo and live performance in seven years. “It was almost like an out-of-body experience,” she said of being asked to perform. “From zero to Super Bowl? That’s mental.”
The 34-year-old has shared very little about her relationship and first baby, born in May 2022, but in a sit-down with Vogue, she opened up about parenthood, calling the birth of her first baby “beautiful.”
“I cannot believe it,” she said, speaking about the experience of giving birth. “Essentially, from one person I became two. You walk into the hospital as a couple and leave as a family of three. It’s nuts. And oh, my gosh, those first days are insane. You don’t sleep. At all. Not even if you wanted to. We came home, cold turkey, had no one. It was just us as parents and our baby. Man, you’re a zombie for the most part.”
Rihanna said she turned down offers to do the Super Bowl in the past, including in 2018 when she turned it down in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick. The former NFL player began kneeling during the National Anthem ahead of games – a silent protest for racial justice and against police brutality. Several other players joined the movement, which became polarizing. The NFL also received criticism for not supporting diversity and inclusion.
In response, the NFL announced it was making a commitment to social change with the Inspire Change initiative, created after an agreement with a coalition of players who demonstrated during the national anthem.
In 2019, the NFL announced it partnered with Jay-Z’s entertainment company, Roc Nation, to consult on entertainment like Super Bowl halftime show, and to “strengthen community through music and the NFL’s Inspire Change initiative.”
When asked why she decided to do the halftime show now, Rihanna said, “there’s still a lot of mending to be,” but that it is now “powerful to break those doors, and have representation at such a high, high level and a consistent level.”
While she was “in the middle of postpartum” when she got the offer, she agreed to the challenge. She didn’t know at the time she would actually be pregnant when she performed at the game.
During the Vogue interview she also revealed 34-year-old Rocky, whose real name is Rakim Athelaston Mayers, really wanted a boy and that their son is “obsessed” with him. Their baby boy has a few solo shots of his own in the Vogue spread, photographed by photography team Inez & Vinoodh.
The couple has yet to announce the name of their son. But that’s not the only detail fans are waiting for – many have been wondering when Rihanna will drop a new album. It would be her first since 2016’s “Anti.”
The singer said she puts pressure on herself to make the next album better. “It is toxic. You’re right. It’s not the right way to look at music because music is an outlet and a space to create, and you can create whatever,” she says. ‘It doesn’t have to even be on any scale. It just has to be something that feels good. It could just be a song that I like. It literally could be that simple.”
