Fireworks, hot dogs, men wearing huge shoulder pads, Rihanna — what more could you want on a Sunday evening? The biggest sporting event of the year hit people’s screens yesterday (February 13), with some in the UK staying up well into the early hours to get through the whole event (it started at 11.30pm GMT and there were more than 100 commercials, yes, 100).
As for the US, proceedings began at a dignified 4.30pm, with roughly 100 million people settling in to watch the event from home. Some were lucky enough to attend the stadium in person and, of course, this included a hefty sprinkling of famous faces, sat in their prime seats, watching on avidly as their teams (or the third, secret team, Rihanna) took to the pitch.
There was loyal Kansas City Chiefs fan and Ant Man actor Paul Rudd, who grew up in Kansas after his family moved there when he was 10, in attendance with his son, Jack.
And a star-studded family duo was in the audience, too: Jay-Z and Blue Ivy Carter, who looked all grown up as she walked around with her dad, posing for pictures and meeting fellow famous people, like Gordon Ramsay.
Model Cara Delevingne was also in the crowd, though the Brit made it very clear she was only there for one reason (or Ri-son). She wore her feelings on her shirt, which said: “Rihanna concert interrupted by a football game, weird but whatever,” and posed for pictures with the shirt lifted above her head to reveal Rihanna’s face on the other side.
RiRi appeared at half-time to give a 13-minute performance that got everyone talking — and not just because she revealed that she’s pregnant with her second child (she gave birth to her first son with A$AP Rocky in mid-May). The pregnant singer gave an adjusted performance to allow for her baby bump, though she did first appear on a floating platform which raised her into the sky as she sang and was shaking a little by the end.
Baby daddy A$AP Rocky was watching from the crowd wearing a bedazzled letterman jacket, and was later papped as he was leaving, where he could be seen holding his and Rihanna’s son (whose name remains unknown).
Philadelphia-born actress and Abbott Elementary writer Quinta Brunson was also present to support the Eagles — who lost the game — as well as her co-star Sheryl Lee Ralph, who performed Lift Every Voice and Sing before the game began. She was then accused of lip-syncing the song, to which she responded: “Does it matter? Does it matter? No. Thank you.”
There were other musical stylings from Paris Hilton, who played a DJ set and sang at the pre-party on February 10, and DJ Khaled, who performed at the after-party — a fitting end to the night, which was punctuated by Rihanna performing the pair’s hit Wild Thoughts while atop her floating platform.
Other big names in attendance included Billie Eilish and her boyfriend Jesse Rutherford, Adele, Bradley Cooper, TikTok sisters Charli and Dixie D’Amelio, Elon Musk and his son, Paul McCartney, and model Winnie Harlow.
