Rihanna and A$AP Rocky are expecting their first child it was revealed on Monday, as the proud mother-to-be shared the first images of her growing baby bump.
The couple was pictured out walking in New York City on Friday, and the We Found Love singer made no effort to hide her baby bump — in fact, she was baring it proudly, despite freezing temperatures and snow.
Rihanna, 33, was photographed in a bright pink $8,000 vintage Chanel coat, which she wore open from just below her breasts, showing off a several-months-along pregnant belly.
The star didn’t wear a shirt under her colorful jacket — though temperatures in the city dipped down to 24 degrees Fahrenheit that day, just before Winter Storm Kenan blew in with several inches of show — however, she did accessorize with a large glitzy body chain that hung over her bump, ensuring all eyes were on her growing stomach.
The pair certainly seemed excited to flaunt their baby news around Harlem, where Rocky, 33, is from.
They were photographed walking around together, with Rocky at points slinging his arm around Rihanna’s shoulders and kissing her head.
However, the couple still appears to have kept their baby news under wraps since the photos were taken — possibly due in part to the seemingly empty streets around them, thanks to the frigid weather.
Though Rihanna may have taken warmth from her happiness over her growing family, she was in no way dressed for the weather.
The star war light-wash jeans with holes on the knees, ran several inches too long and dragged on the ground around her.
She topped them with a long but not particularly heavy-looking $8,000 quilted pink Chanel coat that reached down to her shins.
The coat, which was from Karl Lagerfeld’s Fall/Winter 1996 collection, is made of silk with Gripoix button.
Though she buttoned it at the very top, she left nearly all of the buttons undone, holding the two sides of the coat open to expose her bare belly to the camera — and the elements.
She kept her ungloved hands in her pockets, forcing the sides of the coat open to show off her stomach and her jewellery.
She draped her belly in a gold body chain which included some large colorful jewels at the top and what appeared to be a string of pearls that hung lower. She also added a gold-and-black chain belt from Chanel to complete the fashion-forward look.
Rihanna and Rocky were initially linked in November of 2020 after it was reported that they were seeing each other following the singer’s split from her ex-boyfriend, Hassan Jameel.
The two had been acquainted ever since the early 2010s, when they began performing and touring with each other.
Rihanna and Rocky remained friends for much of the decade before People confirmed that they were officially dating in November 2020.
The two embarked on a romantic vacation to the singer’s native Barbados the following month, and the rapper spent Christmas with his girlfriend’s family.
A separate source spoke to People and noted that, although the pair had just started seeing each other, they were very invested in each other.
‘They’ve been inseparable the past few weeks. It’s a new relationship, but they both seem very into it,’ they said.
The new photos and baby news are particularly shocking given that the Grammy winner has hardly been in hiding — she’s just managed to obscure her stomach.
In fact, not long after these photos were snapped, Rihanna was photographed in the city on Friday night. For that outing to a Tiffany & Co store, she bundled up properly in a black Celine puffer coat layered over a black hoodie, conveniently hiding her belly.
On Thursday, Rihanna also hid her baby bump for a date night to Manhattan restaurant Pastis, donning a vintage Prada scarf and a track jacket from her favourite brand, Martine Rose. She has been photographed on several other occasions this month, and has even posted lingerie photos on Instagram — though those appear to have been taken some time ago.
The couple has yet to publicly comment on their baby news, nor have they revealed when their first child is due or whether they have confirmed the gender, although some social media users quickly began speculating that the singer’s pink coat was meant to serve as a sign that she is expecting a little girl.
‘Since she’s rocking pink, maybe that’s a sign it’s a baby girl,’ one Twitter user wrote, while another added: ‘Can we agree that it’s a girl (pink coat)?’
A third agreed: ‘Rihanna must be having a girl. The pink coat.’
However, others suggested that the singer may be trying to ‘throw off the public by sporting the feminine color, with one writing: ‘Now is the pink puffer to suggest it’s a girl or to throw us off from the fact it’s a boy?!’
While the big reveal today will certainly serve as a shock for most fans, some were speculating that the star was pregnant back in late November and early December.
The rumours took off after Rihanna visited Barbados and wore an orange silk halter gown to an event where she accepted the country’s National Hero Award.
Fans were sure the dress revealed the beginnings of a bump, with one sending an Instagram DM to Rihanna asking: ‘Can I come to the baby shower sis!? True or not your babies are going to be beautiful. Sorry everyone’s up in your uterus right now.’
But Rihanna deflected, replying, ‘Haaaaa! Stawwwp! You ain’t came to the first 10 baby showers!’ The fan posted the exchange on Instagram.
But Rihanna has spoken out about wanting children. When asked by British Vogue in March 2020 where she saw herself in 10 years, she opened up about a future with a family.
‘I’ll have kids — three or four of ’em,’ she said.
But she also said she’d be up for having children alone, without a partner.
‘Hell, yeah, [I’d have kids on my own]. I feel like society makes me want to feel like, “Oh, you got it wrong…” They diminish you as a mother if there’s not a dad in your kids’ lives,’ she said. ‘But the only thing that matters is happiness, that’s the only healthy relationship between a parent and a child. That’s the only thing that can raise a child truly, is love.’
At the time of the interview, Rihanna has just started to be spotted with Rocky, though the two hadn’t publicly confirmed their relationship. Rihanna had just split that January from Saudi Arabian businessman Hassan Jameel, whom she’d been with since 2017.
Prior to that, she’d been linked to Drake, Travis Scott, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Kemp, and Chris Brown.
She’s clearly found that with Rocky, who gushed about his relationship with the singer during an interview with GQ, where he remarked that he had found a soulmate in the performer.
He expressed that, after starting a relationship with Rihanna, his life became ‘so much better. So much better when you got “the One.” She amounts to probably, like, a million of the other ones.’
The rapper went on to note that his girlfriend had been very helpful with his artistic endeavours and that he was grateful for her input.
‘I think it’s important to have somebody that you can bounce those creative juices and ideas off of. It’s just a different point of view,’ he said.
Speaking to Ellen DeGeneres in 2011, Rihanna admitted that being labelled the ‘sexiest woman alive’ can make her ‘intimidating’ to men — but she was looking for guys who step up into a traditionally masculine role.’
‘I like men who are more aggressive but mysterious,’ she said. ‘But I like a man to be very sure. I like them to be sure of themselves and know that you’re the man, I’m the lady, and the only way for us to make this work is if we play our roles. I can’t really be the man for you.’
She seems to have found quite a few men who’ve fit the bill over the years.
Number 1: Chris Brown
Rihanna’s relationship with the singer is one of her most well-remembered.
The pair met in 2005 but weren’t officially linked as together until 2008 when they were seen together at the Grammys and kissing at her 21st birthday party.
But in 2009, fans were shocked when news leaked that Chris had beaten Rihanna, and leaked police photos showed her with black eyes and bruises. He was arrested and charged with felony battery, to which he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five years probation.
‘I needed that wake-up call in my life,’ Rihanna later tole Marie Claire UK. ‘I needed a turning point, and that’s what God was giving to me. All [of] this terrible stuff they say to you, it breaks you down.’
Rihanna filed a restraining order at the time, but she eventually forgave him, dropping the restraining order in 2011 and getting back together with him in 2012 — when she described their relationship as ‘true love’ in 2012.
‘It took me a long time. I was angry for a long time. I was resentful, I held a grudge. I was dark. I was angry. It was coming out in my music and my clothes and my attitude. I didn’t like that feeling. It was heavy,’ she said.
They split again in 2013.
Number 2: Matt Kemp
While split from Chris Brown, Rihanna had a year-long relationship with LA Dodgers star Matt Kemp for the length of 2010.
She gushed about the relationship in several interviews, telling Marie Claire UK: ‘I feel like I smile for real this time. The smiles come from inside, and it exudes in everything I do. People feel my energy is different. When I smile they can tell that it’s pure bliss and not just a cover up.’
But after splitting in December of that year, she told Vogue: ‘I just let it go. I don’t ever want to have to depend on a relationship. I think it’s a really special thing to find love. It’s beautiful. Nothing can match it, but I want to make sure I find other things in life that I love — besides love.’
Number 3: Drake
Rihanna and Drake met in 2005 and famously dated on and off over the years as they worked together on songs including Work, Take Care, and What’s My Name.
During that time, Drake repeatedly gushed about Rihanna to the different news outlets, describing her as his ‘ultimate fantasy.’
In 2016, he introduced her at the VMAs with effusive praise, saying: ‘We love the videos, which change their artistic vision from year to year. But most of all, we love the woman who hasn’t changed since day one. She’s someone I’ve been in love with since I was 22 years old, she’s one of my best friends in the world. All my adult life, I’ve looked up to her even though she’s younger than me. She’s a living, breathing legend in our industry,’ he said.
But it seems that RiRi wasn’t a fan of being built up that way, and told Vogue years later that ‘waiting through that speech was probably the most uncomfortable part. I don’t like too many compliments; I don’t like to be put on blast.
‘We don’t have a friendship now, but we’re not enemies either. It is what it is,’ she said.
Number 4: Leonardo DiCaprio
Rihanna and Leo were rumored to have hooked up a few times, first in February 2015 — when they reportedly spent Valentine’s Day weekend together.
Then, in 2016, they were spotted together at Intrigue Night Club’s grand opening at Wynn Las Vegas.
Neither confirmed that they had dated.
Number 5: Travis Scott
Rihanna also reportedly dated Travis Scott in 2015, with the rumours fueled by sightings of Rihanna at his concerts.
But the relationship appeared to be confirmed by a story in the December 2015/January 2016 issue of Complex. Writer Lawrence Schlossman said that Travis had missed their interview because he was ‘holed up with Rihanna, his recently rumoured love interest/girlfriend/friend-with-benefits.’
In 2020, Schlossman said on his podcast that he was never supposed to reveal that Travis and Rihanna were together.
‘It’s because Rihanna’s like, “Don’t tell anyone that I’m smashing Travis Scott, please,”‘ he said.
Number 6: Hassan Jameel
Rihanna and Saudi Arabian businessman Hassan Jameel got together in 2017. They were first spotted getting dinner together in November of that year, and in 2018 took a trip to Mexico together.
In 2019, she told Interview: ‘I got into a new relationship, and it matters to me. It was like, “I need to make time for this.” Just like I nurture my businesses, I need to nurture this as well. I’ll shut things down for two days, three days at a time.
‘On my calendar we now have the infamous “P,’ which means personal days. This is a new thing.’
She spoke again about him later that year, telling Vogue: ‘I’m actually in an exclusive relationship for quite some time, and it’s going really well, so I’m happy.’
But things soured, and news that they split broke in January 2020.
Number 7: A$AP Rocky
Though their romantic relationship is only a couple of years old, Rihanna and A$AP Rocky have known one another for a decade.
In 2012, he was featured in a remix of Rihanna’s song ‘Cockiness (Love It),’ and he joined her Diamonds World Tour as an opening act in 2013.
They remained friends over the years, even attending a Louis Vuitton show together in 2018 and the British Fashion Awards in 2019, among other events.
But when Rihanna and Hassan split in January 2020, rumours started to swirl that she and Rocky were together.
While they didn’t confirm that they were together, Rocky joined Rihanna to promote Fenty Skin in August 2020, and they were spotted out together that December, with reports that they were ‘inseparable.’
Rocky confirmed the relationship in May 2021, telling GQ that Rihanna is ‘the love of my life.’
‘I think when you know, you know. She’s the one,’ he said.
