Rihanna’s father revealed that he learned about his daughter’s pregnancy at the same time as the rest of the world – during the 2023 Super Bowl halftime show.
On 12 February, the “Diamonds” singer took the stage at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, where she put on a 13-minute medley of her biggest hits. However, viewers speculated that Rihanna seemed to be sporting a baby bump, only for her to confirm minutes later that she’s expecting baby number two with rapper A$AP Rocky.
Ronald Fenty, who flew from Barbados to Arizona for the big game, revealed to TMZ on 19 February that he was watching his daughter’s halftime show from the stands when he found out she was pregnant.
“Oh my god! My baby girl looks pregnant!” he recalled saying to his fiancée during the halftime show.
Fenty told the outlet that he’s “over the moon” about the baby news and is hoping that Rihanna will welcome a girl, just nine months after giving birth to a boy in May 2022.
Rihanna and her father, Ronald Fenty, have had a strained relationship over the years. Fenty, who has a history of alcohol and substance abuse, divorced Rihanna’s mother – Monica Braithwaite – when the singer was 14 years old. Rihanna later called her parent’s relationship “very abusive”.
In 2019, Rihanna filed a lawsuit against her father accusing him of false advertising and misusing their last name. She dropped the lawsuit in September 2021 after the parties reached an out-of-court settlement in an effort to avoid a public dispute.
Rihanna’s father recently spoke about his daughter’s new role as a mother after welcoming her first child with boyfriend A$AP Rocky last year.
“Everybody is saying that football is just opening up for her – it’s the Rihanna show,” Fenty told Page Six ahead of the Super Bowl halftime show. “It’s the moment that everybody has been waiting for.”
Fenty also revealed that his daughter has visited Barbados with her son twice, and added that his daughter “loves” being a mother to her first child.
“She’s loving it. She’s a very overprotective mother,” he said. “Everybody says [the baby] looks like me, but you know, babies change, faces change. He [resembles] a lot of Rihanna and Rocky together.”
He also shared that the singer and rapper have reportedly gone through a “few names” but joked that his daughter would “have my head if I tell you!”
Rihanna and A$AP Rocky have yet to publicly reveal their son’s name. The Fenty Beauty mogul previously claimed that it was due to the couple’s busy schedules that they hadn’t yet shared the baby’s name.
“We just didn’t get around to it yet, really. We’ve just been living,” she told the Associated Press in November. “But I guess there’s a certain freedom that comes with kind of just like getting it out there.”
Fans recently caught a glimpse at the family of three when they posed for the cover of British Vogue’s March 2023 issue. The cover shows Rihanna at the foreground, walking on the beach and reaching out her hand for her rapper boyfriend, who is seen holding their nine-month-old son in his arms.
