So Rihanna is pregnant with her boyfriend A$AP Rocky. The announcement will only have escaped supporters of the disconnection, given the media avalanche triggered by the news, which fell on Monday afternoon and was taken up on social networks like the most serious news agencies. This is connected with the somewhat distressing obsession with the “baby bump”. The interesting thing, in the specific case, is how it was revealed. To know by Rihanna herself, in a spectacular way: by a photo, far from being stolen, rather posed, taken while the r’n’b star (33 years old) was walking with her rapper (33 years old too) this weekend in New York. And the “national heroine” of Barbados underlines her state, this bright pink coat (Chanel) worn next to the skin and open to the chest, like a circle made with Stabilo around the rounded belly and just adorned with an immense long necklace of – precious stones? In short, Rihanna does Rihanna, triumphant and not chaste.
Moreover, at the same time, with the approach of Valentine’s Day, we can see her in one of those hot pubs in which she regularly gives of her gleaming person for the line of lingerie which contributes to the success of her Fenty brand and her image as an accomplished artist-businesswoman.
It’s interesting because Rihanna does not fall into line, does not satisfy the cliché that sticks to “the good mother” (reasonable, discreet, who puts herself on the sidelines for the good cause). Rihanna continues to send wood, even though she has been regularly the subject of pregnancy rumors for years, which could have made her want to hide in a mouse hole – just as her weight is regularly commented on.
Clearly, Rihanna assumes and claims, starting with her body, in whatever state it is. And this 80s pop look (the very flashy color, the ripped jeans) with streetstyle echoes has nothing to do with the very polished photos whose “people” speakers are customary since Demi Moore. Perhaps she will sacrifice it in turn, like Emily Ratajkowski who also chronicled her pregnancy on Instagram, from the most chaste post to the most incendiary. In any case, the two women illustrate a way of making pregnancy a vector of “empowerment”, of taking power: by deciding to expose themselves expressly and as they wish, they bypass the paparazzi and other rumours, secretly say that they are in charge (of their bodies, of their images). And that becoming a mother doesn’t mean keeping a low profile. They have it in their stomachs, both literally and figuratively.