Rihanna's Candor in New Vanity Fair Interview is Refreshing & a Lesson Learned

Rihanna's no stranger to magazine cover stories. Actually I'd venture to say that some even think her to be a real life model at this point. Though she hasn't released an actual album in whats going to be 3 years in November...She has graced countless magazine covers and spreads. Rih has done quite a few interviews in that time, though they didn't tell us much about the pop star that we didn't already know. Vanity Fair and Lisa Robinson aimed to stand out from the crowd with their Rihanna story, and they did just that. 


The entire interview reads of raw honesty from top to bottom. Even the way the interviewer describes Rihanna's appearance seemed for lack of better words.. stripped down.  Rih revealed a lot about her real life, real experiences, and real emotions. She admitted that her life is not all glitz and glam. Yes she's making boss moves like owning her past and future masters, her own label, multiple product deals, but.. she longs for a regular life sometimes. She's arguably one of the most famous pop stars of all time, yet she DREAMS of going grocery shopping. Rihanna has sacrificed that every day stuff to live out her passion. That's the price she pays, and the price anyone pays who is pursuing their purpose. There is always a sacrifice to be made. One has to decide if in the end it's worth it. I think Rih would say yes. Rihanna's honesty didn't stop at how hard it is to be so famous in her own day to day...she also opened up about her personal life as well. She admits that her dating/sex lives are not as fascinating as the rumors that surround them. 

The pop star says she's been abstaining from sex, though if you let the media tell it she has the steamiest sex life ever. You get a sense of frustration when she expounds on not being able to be seen with a man, or how many boyfriends people "give her". Rihanna alludes to two relationships she actually had- one with my bae Matt Kemp (who she says was a really good guy), but the media sorta scared her out of that one. The other is the obvious and most known first love singer Chris Brown. Her candor while speaking of Chris was surprising, as she hardly ever mentions him anymore. Rihanna explained that she will always have feelings for him "until the day she dies"..but it's something she had to walk away from. While she says they are not friends, she said they are not enemies either....they don't really have much of a relationship at all. There was a level of maturity exhibited with the word choice she used here that I adored. Certainly when the cover stated she spoke of Chris in the interview, some if not most people were expecting a bitter and harsh response. She chose to honor her own personal decisions and true feelings. She spoke of their relationship and experiences with much care. I dig that. 

The interviewer seemed to get into some really good convo with Rih. They talked sports and even the Rachel Dolezal controversy. Rihanna called her, "A bit of a hero".. from the stand point of someone celebrating the beauty in black culture.  Here again, Rihanna's honesty shines through. Though I think her opinion of this is absolutely ridiculous, I totally love the fact that she's not afraid to voice her unpopular opinion at her level of stardom. Everything a star of Rihanna's caliber says or does is so heavily scrutinized, so I welcome Rihanna because she gives it raw and just expects you to react how you will.

Vanity Fair managed to get one of Rihanna's most open and revealing interviews.. maybe since the pop star appeared on the Oprah special. Whether it's admitting that she doesn't know if it's fair to demand someone to be faithful when she knows she can't give them hardly any time due to her work grind, or whether its opening up about how boring she is in real life.. the overwhelming theme seemed to be honesty. She spoke openly about her past relationships, the elephant that won't leave the room regarding her experiences with Chris. Rihanna isn't trying to uphold or build any image, and at this point there's no need. She's worked her behind off, and a few negative opinions of her won't stop anything. We learned from Rihanna that the human emotional experience is the same for all of us..ups and downs, insecurities, fears, jealousies, desires, wins, losses. No amount of money or fame can save you from that. While it might be a little scary to be honest and open about who you are and what you think.. you're often better off for it.