Rihanna has been titled the Caribbean Queen and for good reason, after the massive success of her career. What Caribbean country is the Live Your Life singer from though?
Rihanna is from Barbados. She grew up in the Parish of Saint Michael in and around the capital of the country, Bridgetown. Growing up, her parents had a rocky marriage and divorced when she was 14. This was due to her father’s abuse. Rihanna has had a strained relationship with her dad since.
You can read more below about Rihanna’s childhood and her strained relationship with her father.
Growing Up Around Bridgetown
Rihanna was born in 1988 to Monica Braithwaite and Ronald Fenty in Saint Michael, Barbados. She was the eldest daughter of the couple, but the fourth child that Ronald Fenty fathered. Monica and Ronald had two more children, Rihanna’s younger brothers Rorrey and Rajad. The family lived in a three bedroom bungalow in the capital of Bridgetown.
In Barbados, Rihanna went to the Charles F. Broome Memorial Primary School for her elementary school education. For highschool, she attended Combermere School. Two of her classmates at the Combermere School also went on to become famed cricket players, Chris Jordan and Carlos Braithwaite. In 2004, when Rihanna was 16 she moved to the United States to pursue her singing career
Relationship With Her Father
While she was growing up in Barbados, Rihanna lived in an abusive home. Her father, Ronald Fenty, was a cocaine and alcohol addict who was abusive to her mother.
In a 2007 Entertainment Weekly interview, Rihanna recalls that “‘I wouldn’t cry. I wouldn’t get upset. It was just all in here,’ she says, pointing to her head. The stress of her parents’ marital problems took a toll on Rihanna’s health.”
Rihanna started to experience crippling headaches that resulted in her visiting the hospital. In the same interview, she said that “They even thought it was a tumor, because it was that intense.” When her parents divorced, Rihanna stopped experiencing the headaches.
In 2011, The Independent reported that Rihanna felt betrayed by her father after finding out he sold information to the press. It was all surrounding the abuse she experienced at the hands of ex-boyfriend Chris Brown.
The article quotes Rihanna saying “But my dad went to the press and just told them a bunch of lies. Because he hadn’t talked to me after … that whole thing . He never called to find out how I was doing, if I was alive, nothing. He just never called. He went straight to the press and got a cheque. And now he does it again.”
Rihanna did eventually forgive her father. In a 2012 interview with Oprah’s Next Chapter, Rihanna said that she eventually was able to separate her father from the abusive husband and good father that he was.
You can watch the 2012 interview with Oprah by following the below YouTube link.
Rihanna Sues Her Dad
Despite the fact that Rihanna did eventually forgive her father for the abusive environment he created growing up, it seems it was short lived. In January of 2019, TMZ reported that Rihanna was suing her father for the use of her trademarked last name, Fenty.
A Rolling Stone article paraphrased the lawsuit stating “The suit alleges that in 2017, Fenty and another man, Moses Perkins, created a company called Fenty Entertainment. The suit claims that Fenty Entertainment has repeatedly claimed that it is affiliated with Rihanna on its website and social media pages, while it also alleges that the company has used Rihanna’s name to bilk third parties out of millions of dollars.”
Rihanna made the point of trademarking her last name, Fenty, for business purposes back in 2014. She has since used the name Fenty for her makeup, beauty, and fashion products alike. Her Fenty brand is a subsidiary of the French company, LVMH.