Performing a 12-minute set featuring some of her biggest hits, like “Umbrella,” “B—h Better Have My Money” and “We Found Love,” Rihanna wore a bright red, unzipped jumpsuit over a skin-tight body suit that exposed her bump, which she cradled between sets.
Earlier, in an interview for her Super Bowl performance, Rihanna told CBS’s Nate Burleson that she had a surprise planned. “I’m thinking of bringing someone. I’m not sure, but we’ll see.”
Since her Super Bowl appearance, the Barbadian-born musician and entrepreneur has been captured in photos, confidently wearing ghetto-glam maternity clothes, like crops tops and lacy baby dolls that exposed her growing belly to the world.
The beauty and fashion icon–she owns the cosmetics brand Fenty Beauty under the luxury fashion house LVMH (Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton), lingerie Savage X Fenty and Fenty Skin–came under fire for defying traditional standards of maternity wear, and for blinging her baby bump with chains and jewelry. Comparing her provocative styles to the conservative styles of other celebrity moms, readers shared their thoughts on Rihanna’s clothing, which the majority says is unflattering.
One reader writes that she is “motherhood trashy. This is NOT classy, it is crass and attention grabby narcissism on full display,” while another said, “Well to me one looks like that she’s happy to be pregnant and (grateful), and the other just looks like she’s showing u how she got pregnant. Just sayin. I said what I said, y’all know u was thinking it!”
One reader defended Rihanna, saying, “Could it be that they just have different styles…not one is better than the other just different. Stop pitting women against each other in a race neither chose to be in.”
Fans of Rihanna know she’s fearless with her attention-commanding styles, from tracksuits with stilettos to puffer jackets coupled with thigh-high boots, to a sparkling Swarovski crystal studded gown. At this year’s Met Gala, she wore a jaw-dropping white Valentino gown, complete with a silk cape made of embroidered white flowers and a 16-foot train. In 2015, she showed up at the Met Gala in a stunning sunshine yellow dress, which Vogue says “will go down in history as one of the best looks the event has ever witnessed.”
In an interview with ET’s Rachel Smith, Rihanna explains her statement-making styles during her first pregnancy. “It’s a long nine to 10 months. You have to enjoy it…I’m trying to enjoy it as much as I could. And fashion is one of my favorite things, so, you know, we’re defying what it even means to be pregnant and maternal.” She continued, “It can get uncomfortable at times and so you can dress the part and pretend.” Very little information on Rihanna’s second baby has been released. As of May 2023, we still don’t have an expected birth date, although given the size of her baby bump, it’s safe to say the baby will arrive in 2023.
Comparing her first pregnancy with her second, Rihanna said, “It’s so different from the first one…No cravings. Tons of nausea. Everything’s different, but I’m enjoying it. I feel good. I feel energetic.”
The couple is crafty in keeping private information from the curious public. In fact, we only learned her first son’s name on May 10, 2023, after the Daily Mail did some digging and obtained a copy of the birth certificate. The soon-to-be big brother, who turned one on May 13, 2023, is named RZA Athelston Mayers. Reports say the name RZA (pronounced Rizza) is in honor of the producer and rapper RZA, 53–the leader of the Wu-Tang Clan–the American hip hop collective formed in Staten Island in 1992. Speaking in early May about her first born, Rihanna gushed “I’m in love” with the little one and admits she is “obsessed and I don’t even feel guilty about it.”
