Rihanna and A$AP Rocky are celebrating their son RZA Athelaston’s first birthday.
Rocky, whose real name is Rakim Athelaston Mayers, posted a series of sweet photographs of his and Rihanna’s growing family on Instagram to commemorate the occasion.
The couple are expecting their second child together. Rihanna confirmed the pregnancy while performing at the Super Bowl halftime show earlier this year.
In his post, the rapper wrote: “Wu Tang iz 4 da churen [sic]. Happy first birthday to my firstborn. Rza [red heart emoji].”
The first photograph in the gallery shows Rocky, Rihanna, and RZA sitting on a beach towel. Rihanna is seen kissing her partner on the cheek while their baby beams at the camera and chews on his hand.
The second snap shows the family all dressed up for an event, with Rocky and Rihanna dressed in matching leather outfits and RZA sporting oversized Dior sunglasses.
One candid photo shows Rocky taking a mirror selfie while Rihanna pulls a funny face in the background as she holds the baby boy up.
The other snaps are of Rocky holding his son and smiling widely, and playing with him on the grass.
The couple first announced their surprise pregnancy in January 2022, when Rihanna was photographed in a long pink puffer jacket in New York City with her belly exposed. She gave birth four months later in May.
Following RZA’s birth, Rihanna did not share any images of her baby boy until December 2022, after discovering that the paparazzi had taken photos of her child without her consent and were about to publish them.
The “Diamonds” singer and Rocky pipped the paparazzi to the post by sending candid photos from her camera roll to an unnamed blog and joined TikTok to share a video of Rza herself.
Speaking to British Vogue about the decision to let photos of her son go public on her own terms, Rihanna said: “I just went straight into protective mode. Like there wasn’t even time for rage. As parents it just feels so icky, like a violation.”
She continued: “It’s a thing you never want to happen. We get to decide as parents when and how we [introduce our child]. End of story.”
