Rihanna has reflected on the ageing process as she enters a new period of her life, saying it’s “s***, but it’s also a blessing”.
The 37-year-old pop star first shot to fame as a 17-year-old with her hit single “Pon de Replay”. Since then, she has had numerous chart-topping singles and albums, becoming one of the most successful artists of all time.
In recent years, she has shirked fan demands for a new album and has instead focused on business ventures and her journey into motherhood. The star, whose real name is Robyn Fenty, gave birth to her first son RZA by partner A$AP Rocky in May 2022. In August 2023, the couple welcomed their second son, Riot.
Rocky was recently acquitted of facing up to 24 years in prison for two felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm.
“Getting old is s***, but it’s also a blessing,” she told Harper’s Bazaar. “My legacy is right now. That’s all I have the most control over. My legacy is what I do with my time at this moment. How am I present with the people around me? How am I grateful? How am I making this a happy moment? How am I making a memory?”
The “Diamonds” singer reflected on her upbringing, explaining that her tenacity in her early years came from a dedication to her family, and a determination to become a success.
“I’ve always been afraid of how much is me versus what I’ve been influenced by,” she said.
“I left home as a teenager, and I left everything I knew: my family, my friends, my food, my culture. And I came to a big city by myself, and the only option for me was to win. I knew that I had to win.
“The suffering that I felt not being a part of anything that I knew, there was only one way to make that worth it, because I knew that my family was suffering without me too. And so I was like, ‘There’s no way. This has to pay off.’ And that was my fight, my goal, my everything. Every single day. I only got to see my family at Christmas. So I spent the year just going for it until I saw them.”
Although she is now one of the wealthiest and most influential musicians in the world, she explained that she struggles to balance her love for her work with time with her loved ones.
“Every decision I make revolves around them, but everything that I do that I love robs me from them,” she said about juggling work and motherhood.
“So I have a weird resentment with the things that I love. You almost feel like something is always suffering for you to show up somewhere. And even when you show up there, it’s not 100 per cent because there’s something else on the wheel. It’s actually given me a lot more self-guilt.
“I have to keep reminding myself that I asked for this, I love this. I try to figure out a balance so that I can feel fulfilled when I show up to something, so I can feel I don’t have any guilt.”
She added: “[What I know] is that you’re carving your journey. And every disappointment, letdown, hurt, good, weird, uncomfortable—it’s all for you. All of your experiences, they’re actually preparing you for the next step. I look at my childhood and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, God already knew that this is how my life would look.”
