If you haven’t taken a minute to read Rihanna’s latest interview in Interview Magazine, this is your nudge to do it right now (or just hit the highlights below). The interviewer, Rihanna’s former colleague and friend Mel Ottenberg who worked as her stylist from 2011 until 2018, has a way of getting to the core of who she is now as a mom—and just generally as a badass human—with humor and heart.
Here are the best tidbits from Rihanna herself about what it’s like to be a superstar, partner to A$AP Rocky, and a mom to almost 2-year-old RZA and now 8-month old Riot. Spoiler alert: it’s more relatable than you might think.
She’s Embracing Her Body After Having Two Kids
As Rihanna and Ottenberg talk without a hint of body shame about the performer’s style evolution and dressing her “thicker body” after having two kids, she notes that it’s all about highlighting her silhouette in new ways. “Now it’s like, ‘Okay, I had two babies. You really have to push this up, snatch this in, or do an illusion of a little bit of skin here,’” and ultimately, she says, “When I’m thicker, I need to work my booty.”
We’ll take that body confidence any day, RiRi.
She’s Trading in Fashion for Function as a Mom
In one of the most relatable bits, Rihanna is all of us when she talks about how she dresses her kids to the nines…and then throws on the most comfortable outfit so she can do all her mom duties. “I spend my time getting the kids dressed to death, and then I’m like, ‘What’s the most comfortable outfit to wear around them? What’s not going to feel uncomfortable on their face or on their body or make me feel like I can’t hold them properly?’ Moms are lazy dressers in real life,” she says.
But one of the funniest (and least relatable) parts comes right after, as she talks about her partner, A$AP Rocky, having other ideas about a new parent dress code.“I be feeling bummy as shit next to this man. I feel like, goddamn, I look like his assistant. I’m getting on a plane. We should be in sweats. He wants to be in a full Bottega suit. I’m like, ‘Why you got to do that to me,’’' she says.
My husband wouldn’t even understand the words “Bottega suit,” but I love hearing about their relationship dynamic. The fights might be different, but the feelings are the same.
Her Younger Son Wears Hand-me-downs
Think Rihanna just buys all new clothes for her son Riot? Wrong! While she might not be hitting up the Buy Nothing Facebook groups like the rest of us, she is dressing him in RZA’s old clothes.
“I have racks, I have bags. They’re all sized and organized, and then whatever gets too small for RZA, I put into bins so that Riot can have them next. Riot is actually in all of RZA’s 1-year-old clothes already. He’s only six months. Everybody thinks Rocky dresses them because I dress them in Rocky outfits,” she says. She’s even got the labeled bins, y’all.
RZA’s First Word Was Delightfully Ordinary
Nope, it’s not “mama” or “dada” or even “Bottega suit.” It was just simply, “hey.”
“I used to try to get his attention all the time, and I would say, ‘Hey, hey, hey.’ And one day he said it back to me in the same melody and I kept singing it and he kept following it over and over again,” she says. Seems about right. Super cool, but still not trying too hard.
She Keeps Baby Stuff in Her Purse, But Don’t Call It a Diaper Bag
When Rihanna travels away from her babies, she likes to keep little things with her that remind her of her kids. Like Riot’s rag and RZA’s pacifier.
“But when I move, I either keep a rag or a pair of socks or a pacifier, something from them,” she says. But when Ottennberg insists on asking what else is in her diaper bag, she’s not having it.
“Okay, let’s not classify this as a diaper bag. This was a diaper bag. This is a YSL mini duffle.”
Noted. Rihanna doesn’t carry a diaper bag, ok?
Rihanna and A$AP Rocky Both Change Diapers
We love that Rihanna and Rocky are equal partners when it comes to the messy side of having kids. When asked if her husband changes diapers, she says, “Oh, yeah. Rocky has never shied away from it. He does the shirt up over the nose with a stinky diaper. He gets through it. It’s kind of funny.”
The shirt trick must be a universal dad instinct that kicks in during diaper changes, because it was also in heavy rotation around here the first two years of my son’s life.
She’s on Board to Have More Kids
Rihanna isn’t shying away from this age-old question—do you want more kids? She’s letting the universe decide, though she wouldn’t be mad if there was a girl in the mix.
“I don’t know what god wants, but I would go for more than two. I would try for my girl. But of course if it’s another boy, it’s another boy,” she says. That’s mom-talk for “YES, MORE KIDS.”
She Had Cellulite During Pregnancy, Too
If even Rihanna has cellulite, during pregnancy or any other time, it’s really time to stop judging our own bodies’ so harshly. “Third-trimester cellulite is no joke. You just see ripples coming from places you never knew, and it’s all in your thighs, because your thighs are carrying the weight of your baby and uterus,” she says.
That’s your cue to throw out the cellulite coffee scrub and go enjoy your life.
Her Biggest Life Goal Was Probably Not What You Thought
If you thought Rihanna's biggest dream was to be an international superstar, think again. Her true calling has always been to be a mom. “The only thing that I knew I wanted, or that I could imagine, was motherhood. I didn’t know how it would come, but it is the best part of my journey so far. Everything else was a surprise,” she says.
Is that the least mega-super-star answer ever, or what?
She’s Amazed That Her Fans Are Growing Up With Her
It must be pretty cool to grow up with a generation of people who then enter parenthood at a similar time. “They’re deadass having kids with me. They’re getting married. I’m like, ‘But you’re 16.’ I left them there in my mind. But we’re growing up together. It’s awesome to see all of our lives evolving at the same time,” she says.
I have to say, there is something about motherhood that just kinda levels the playing field and makes us all understand each other more, even for Rihanna.
She’s Not Above Singing ‘The Wheels on the Bus’ to Her Kids
Oh, you thought Rih was singing “SOS” or “Umbrella” to her kids? Nah, she’s singing “There’s a Penguin Salute,” “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,” “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes,” and the immortal classic “The Wheels on the Bus,” just probably in slightly better tune than you and me.
“‘The Wheels on the Bus’ is a favorite from the beginning till now. That’s just a classic. It’s never going out of style. And oh, the new “Incy-Wincy Spider,” because he gets like, “Ahh,” like he thinks I’m going to tickle him when I sing that one. And he has a book about that, so he can put two and two together.”
The idea that Rihanna may also be driven to insanity by listening to “The Wheels on the Bus’ for the four millionth time somehow makes me feel just a little bit happier.
There Is One Person Who Can Make Her Clean Up Her Act
As big of a no-shits-given attitude as Rihanna has, there is one person in her life who still strikes fear (and love) in her heart. The grandmother to her kids—her mom.
“I am terrified of that woman and she is just the greatest. I have the utmost respect for her, so I don’t even want to swear around her, drink around her, smoke or nothing. I have to be on my best behavior,” she says. We are absolutely loving that there are no bad girls allowed when mom’s around.
The Thing She’s Afraid of Most Is the Biggest Rub of Motherhood
Maybe the hardest thing about becoming a mom is loving your kid so damn much that you worry about their well-being from now until eternity. You want them to be safe, healthy, and happy, but you also want them to flourish as a human being. It’s a delicate balance—the worry and the letting go just enough to let them find their own center of gravity.
“The well-being of your kids, you worry about that constantly. Nobody warns you that having kids means you’re going to worry every second of your life. Right?” says Rihanna—basically, reaching into our mom souls and pulling out the one truth that bonds us all together.
