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Rihanna shocked the world when she appeared on stage at the Super Bowl LVII halftime show. Not only was it the “Umbrella” singer’s first time performing in several years, but RiRi also revealed a growing baby bump underneath her red jumpsuit. The surprise baby announcement caught everyone off guard — including her own father.
Rihanna’s father was at the Super Bowl
As the father of the Super Bowl halftime show performer, Ronald Fenty was a special guest at Glendale, Arizona’s State Farm Stadium. He was watching from the stands as his daughter appeared on a floating platform high above the football field.
Rihanna’s partner A$AP Rocky and their son, born in May 2022, were also in attendance. A$AP had a closer look as he was near the stage, and he lovingly cheered on the mother of his child as she performed for the whole stadium and over 100 million viewers worldwide.
Rihanna’s father learned about her pregnancy when she took the stage at the Super Bowl halftime show
Rihanna was announced as the Super Bowl LVII halftime show performer in September 2022. At the time, Rih was just a few months post-partum and settling into life as a mother. But she accepted the challenge of performing on the world’s biggest stage.
Rih became pregnant with her second child in the months between taking on the show and appearing on stage in Arizona. Rather than scrap the show until after she’s given birth, Rih made history as the first pregnant person to perform at the Super Bowl halftime show.
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Her father was watching from high up in the stands, but even he could tell from far away that his daughter had a bun in the oven. “‘Oh my god! My baby girl looks pregnant!’” he said, telling the story to TMZ.
She kept the secret from her backup dancers
Rihanna’s father wasn’t the only one who wasn’t aware of the singer’s pregnancy. Her dancers in the show were similarly unaware, as she wore loose clothing to rehearsals, and some didn’t even find out until they watched the show later.
Halftime show director Hamish Hamilton told Entertainment Tonight about how those in the know were able to keep the secret for so long. “She was very careful about who knew. And we only knew, really, at the very latest stages,” Hamilton said. “Her and her team carefully managed that, and we obviously also then carefully managed that.”
“It’s a very, very personal, joyous moment. So it’s for her to tell the world, you know?” Hamilton continued. “So not only were we obviously very mindful of the fact that she was pregnant, but we’re also very mindful of this kind of a show hasn’t been done before either.”
“There was a huge amount of respect for the endeavor that we were taking on,” he added. “I think, given the ambition of the idea, the kind of lunacy, almost, in some ways, of the idea, I think anybody who was going to kind of tell the world was like, ‘You know what? Let me keep the secret.’”
