In between touring with Kanye [1] and spending QT with her puppy [2] Oliver, Rihanna made time to chat with Elle [3] magazine for its June issue. On top of looking typically fabulous in her photoshoot, Rihanna opened up about her family, her career, and — finally! [4] — Chris Brown. Here's more: [5]
[5]
- On Chris Brown: “We’ve always been friends, but we’re very close now.”
- On the rumors about Jay-Z: "Well, it’s crazy that you ask me that. People know that it’s not true. I think it’s kinda a cliché question, and people know it’s not true, so I don’t even know why it’s still addressed to this day. I get asked about it all the time and I’m like, You’re asking, but you know the answer. I don’t even like to address it anymore.”
- On her hair: "I kept telling my managers, I’m cutting my hair. I’m cutting my hair. And they’re like, ‘How short? Not too short. Cut it how short?’ And I’m like, ‘Up to here.’ [Rihanna raises her hand up to her ear] They never believed me. So when it was time to do the album cover [for Good Girl], the night before I cut it, I dyed it black. We went straight to the photo shoot, and no one at the record label knew what I looked like. When we sent the pictures over, they saw the hair and they all loved it. They loved it.”
To see what else Rih has to say about her formerly alcoholic father, meeting Jay-Z for the first time, and the runaway success of "Umbrella" just
- On her formerly alcoholic father: “That was way, way, way back. We’re friends now. Now my dad is like the coolest person on the planet. He doesn’t smother me. He lets me live my life. And he’s been like that a lot, even when I was younger. He would watch me making a mistake and he wouldn’t stop me. My dad, he lets me make it and then I learn.”
- On meeting Jay-Z for the first time: "I remember staring into everybody’s eyes in the room while I was singing, and at that point, I was fearless. But the minute I stopped singing, I was like, Oh my God, Jay-Z is sitting right in front of me.”
- On "Umbrella": “That song is very, very magical. Because even when I travel, I can’t believe the kind of people that know that record. Their age, their nationality, they don’t speak English, but they all know that song.”
Since Rihanna is such a private star, it's a treat to hear her finally open up. We know that she has a good heart [6], so it's especially wonderful to hear that things are going so well for her both personally and professionally.