LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 11: Rihanna poses for a picture as she celebrates her beauty bran...
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Culture

Rihanna Kept Her Pregnancy A Secret From Her Friends

Her pregnancy cravings outed her.

by Layla Halabian

While the world may never get new Rihanna music, there is something arguably better coming down the pipeline: a Fenty baby. Even as Rihanna and A$AP Rocky were able to unveil the pregnancy on their own terms with a paparazzi shoot in Harlem, the pop star had to “work” — sorry! — extra hard to keep her pregnancy under wraps from everyone, including her closest friends.

Rihanna’s longtime hobbies include things like leaving a famed restaurant with a full glass of wine in tow, or taking a blunt to the face, so when her habits started to shift, her friends noticed. "It was harder for me to keep it from my posse, because they're around me, they know my habits," she said. "They're like, 'You don't want something to drink? You're not smoking?’”

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“And I'm eating all the things I'm not used to eating,” she continued. “They know I hate sweets and I'm all of a sudden asking for cookies and donuts. But finally, I just had to let it all out, and they were all shocked, of course, as the world was shocked as well."

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Like all massively famous celebrities before her, Rihanna was subject to a storm of speculation from fans who suspected that she was with child. Prior to her January 31 pregnancy reveal, sleuthing fans cited photos with the pop star covering her growing stomach and wearing oversized clothing as clues. The sleuths win out this round.

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Upon finding out she was pregnant with her first child, Rihanna proceeded with caution. "When I first found out, it's not real, you know?” she said. “I was like, 'This is not for real, right?'"

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"And then, it was, and it's almost like you don't want to get too excited too soon because it's great, but you...want to see that it's going to see its way through,” she explained. “And I'm so glad that we're this far along and now I can celebrate with everyone."

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Her boyfriend and baby daddy A$AP Rocky seems equally overjoyed. Back in May 2021, the rapper spoke to GQ about his romance with Rihanna, calling her the "love of my life" and generally gushed about his affection for her.

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"So much better when you got 'the One.' She amounts to probably, like, a million of the other ones,” he said. “I think when you know, you know. She's the One."

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