Rihanna and A$AP Rocky are expecting their first child.
The couple was spotted out walking in New York City on Friday, and the We Found Love singer was making 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 appear 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, which 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 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 jewelry. 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.
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 of 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 favorite 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.
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 rumors 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 endeavors 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.
