Who are Rihanna’s parents and are they still together? Uplifting truths about the singer’s early life, family background, siblings, ethnicity, and more.
On February 12, 2023, all attention was on Rihanna following her buzzy performance at the Super Bowl halftime show that saw the Kansas City Chiefs shockingly defeat the Philadelphia Eagles.
The biggest news about Rihanna throughout 2023 has been about her second pregnancy with A$AP Rocky. Ever since their relationship popped up in the media, both their fan bases have been extremely excited to see what would be to come in their future. On August 21, 2023, TMZ reported Rihanna had secretly given birth to baby number 2 – another son – with A$AP Rocky.
While each aspect of the star’s set will be dissected for years to come, let’s take the opportunity to dig into Rihanna’s family a bit. Who exactly are her parents and is she close to them these days? Here’s what you should know about the beautiful singer’s mom and dad.
Who are Rihanna’s parents?
Rihanna was born on February 20, 1988, in Saint Michael, Barbados to parents Ronald Fenty (father) and Monica Braithwaite (mother).
The singer’s parents are still alive but reportedly not living as a husband and wife anymore.
Former couple, Ronald and Monica, raised the ‘Work” singer on the beautiful island of Barbados, but she relocated to the United States at the age of 16 to pursue a career in music.
Rihanna’s parents gave her the full name Robyn Rihanna Fenty. Her family and close friends call her Robyn; she once told Rolling Stone that after becoming numb to hearing ‘Rihanna’, she pays attention when she hears ‘Robyn’. Fun fact: her middle name means ‘sweet basil’ in Arabic and is pronounced ‘Rih-Anna’.
Who is Ronald Fenty?
Ronald Fenty is famous as a celebrity father. He is the biological dad of pop star Rihanna.
By profession, he works as a warehouse supervisor.
Ronald Fenty is 69 years old and was born in 1954, in Barbados Island, Barbados.
In addition to Rihanna, he is the father of Samantha Fenty, Rorrey Fenty, Kandy Fenty, and Jamie Fenty.
Who is Monica Braithwaite?
Monica Braithwaite is famous as a celebrity mother. She is the biological mom of singer Rihanna.
Born on April 5, 1969, Monica is currently 54 years old and has Aries as her zodiac sign.
Her parents are Lionel Braithwaite and Clara Brathwait.
By profession, she is an accomplished accountant.
Little is known about Braithwaite’s early life.
Aside from Riri, she and Ronald Fenty also have two sons Rorrey Fenty and Rajad R Fenty.
What is Rihanna’s ethnicity?
Rihanna is from the Caribbean island of Barbados, born in Saint Michael and raised in the country’s capital and largest city, Bridgetown.
Her mother, Monica Braithwaite, is of Afro-Guyanese decent while and her father, Ronald Fenty, is of Afro-Barbadian, Irish, English, and Scottish heritage.
Rihanna is very proud of her heritage – her care-free attitude and island-tinged sound is carried through her music to this day.
Who are Rihanna’s siblings?
Rihanna is not the only child of her parents. She has two younger brothers from same parents, Rorrey Fenty and Rajad R Fenty.
She also has two half-sisters and a half-brother from her father’s side, each born to different mothers from his previous relationships.
Is Rihanna from a rich home?
Badgal Riri didn’t come from a well-to-do family but her parents tried their best to cater for her.
She grew up in a three-bedroom bungalow in Bridgetown and sold clothes with her father in a stall on the street.
Her childhood was deeply affected by her father’s alcoholism and crack cocaine addiction, which contributed to her parents’ strained marriage.
Rihanna’s father used to abuse her mother physically, and Rihanna would try to get in between them to break up fights.
She faced health challenges when growing up.
As a child, Rihanna had many CT scans for the excruciating headaches she suffered, recalling, “The doctors even thought it was a tumor, because it was that intense.”
Are Rihanna’s parents still married?
When Rihanna was still a teenager (at age 14), her parents got divorced and never reconciled.
What happened to Rihanna’s parents? According to Hello Magazine, they were together long enough to have three kids together, including Rihanna. Unfortunately for Rihanna and her younger brothers, Ronald struggled with drug and alcohol addiction.
His substance abuse is what ultimately led to the demise of his marriage. Rihanna later called her parent’s relationship “very abusive”.
Following how Ronald treated Rihanna’s mother, she developed a strained relationship for him over the years.
Rihanna and Ronald didn’t begin to repair their relationship until he was in recovery. These days, she considers him the “coolest person on the planet.”
Rihanna is a high school graduate.
She attended Charles F. Broome Memorial Primary School and Combermere School, where she studied alongside future international cricketers Chris Jordan and Carlos Brathwaite.
Although she initially wanted to graduate from high school, she chose to pursue a musical career instead.
She grew up listening to reggae music.
Riri was in the military at 11 and her drill sergeant was a fellow Barbadian singer Shontelle.
Rihanna talked to NME in 2015 about her time in the cadets, saying that when she was 11 years old, the star and her best friend would “have to give trouble in order to enjoy this discipline we were getting.” She added, “And we’d refuse to do push-ups when we were punished. It was a question of: Why just do it? It was so boring to follow the rules.”
The singer, whose partner is A$AP Rocky, hinted that the cadets were about to kick her out, but Rihanna ventured to the Big Apple in the U.S. before that could happen — and the rest is history.
Rihanna’s fans enlisted in her “Navy” following a particular lyric from her 2009 album Rated R: “We’re an army, better yet a navy, better yet, crazy, guns in the air.”
As an 11-year-old, Rihanna was an army cadet in a sub-military programme, where the later Barbadian singer-songwriter Shontelle was her drill sergeant.
As Shontelle told the BBC in 2009, “We were both in cadets together — it wasn’t compulsory or anything. But picture me and Rihanna in combat boots and fatigues crawling through mud and things like that.”
When asked if she ordered the fashion designer around, Shontelle told the British outlet, “That’s what drill sergeants do. We boss cadets around, we make them do push-ups … especially when they show up on the parade square late.”
Rihanna’s father opined that Rihanna will be a good mom.
In late January 2022, Rihanna announced her pregnancy by showing off her baby bump during a stroll with her boyfriend A$AP Rocky in Harlem.
Ronald told Page Six that he found out hours before the world did. “I just got the news from her last night, and she sent me some photos,” Ronald said. “I’m just over the moon. She’s beautiful inside and out.”
He added that Rihanna will be a good mom. “Rihanna always said that she wanted children, she loves kids,” Ronald said. “She always takes care of her cousins’ kids… she’s going to be a good mom.”
Ronald met Rocky in December 2020 and was impressed with the rapper. “I like him,” Ronald said.
Rihanna is close to her mother than her father.
Monica, Rihanna’s mother, hasn’t publicly commented on the singer’s first and second pregnancy just yet, but she’s most likely just as cheerful about the news.
Based on what the public has seen from Monica’s and Rihanna’s public interactions in the past, they are extremely close to one another. Back in 2019, Rihanna posted a birthday tribute to her mother on Instagram saying, “Thanks for teaching me that strength, love, forgiveness, sacrifice, hard work, and helping others in whatever way you can … is what true beauty looks like.”
In 2021, Rihanna took her mother to celebrate her birthday in New York City with champagne, caviar, chocolate cake, and more. It appeared to be a lovely night.
And then it was reported she had bought her a mansion worth $2 million.
What are Rihanna’s parents’ net worth?
Despite the singer not coming from a wealthy home, her parents were doing cool jobs to cater for her and her younger siblings. Currently, her parents have an estimated net worth of at least $5 million each. They earned a little of their fortune from their professions as warehouse supervisor and accountant with the majority of their money coming from their daughter who is a billionaire entrepreneuer as a well as one of the most successful musicians in the world right now.
As of 2023, Ronald and Monica’s daughter, Rihanna, has an estimated over $1.5 billion. This is thanks to her hugely successful music career, her Savage X Fenty lingerie line, her lucrative Fenty Beauty cosmetics company, her FENTY fashion brand, Fenty Skin, her movie career and her long line of endorsements with brands including Chopard, Manolo Blahnik and Stance.