There is one bad gal in Hollywood, and her name is Rihanna.
After dominating the music scene, she turned her sights onto the fashion and beauty industry.
RELATED STORIES
She dominated that, too, thanks to her promoting body confidence and inclusivity. Not bad for just a girl from Barbados.
Come get to know this star a little better with these 10+ facts.
1. She was dared to enter her high school beauty pageant — and won.
She won the competition when she was just 15 after singing Mariah Carey’s “Hero.”
“I kind of laughed at these stupid pageants,” Rihanna told the Daily Mail in 2007 about being named Miss Combermere.
2. She was in the military.
Well, kinda. She was an army cadet in a sub-military program in Barbados.
It was singer-songwriter Shontelle who acted as her drill sergeant. “We were both in cadets together—it wasn’t compulsory or anything,” she told the BBC .
“But picture me and Rihanna in combat boots and fatigues crawling through mud and things like that.”
She also said that she bossed Rihanna around.
“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.”
3. You’ve probably been pronouncing her name wrong.
How you say it: Ree-AHHHH-nah
Correct pronunciation: Ree-AN-uh
The internet was in complete disarray when Rihanna said her name out loud and the world realized that they’ve been saying it wrong all this time.
4. Her real name is Robyn Rihanna Fenty.
![Image credit: [Instagram | @badgalriri]https://www.instagram.com/p/B_LoRVAHj6y/](https://static.diply.com/pNOtZ9b5h2TlwBj8L6ZS.png)
If you wondered where RiRi got the name for her makeup and fashion line, she didn’t have to look far. Her last name is Fenty.
“I get kind of numb to hearing Rihanna, Rihanna, Rihanna,” she told Rolling Stone . “When I hear Robyn, I pay attention.”
5. She’s become a leader in revolutionizing the fashion and beauty industry.
Since launching her beauty and clothing line, she’s been turning heads for all the right reasons.
First, she released 40 shades of foundation to fit every skin color. She also uses untouched photos for her ads.
Then, with her clothing line, she included mannequins with real bodies i.e. “pouches”
She’s been breaking the internet lately by featuring plus-size models on her website and in her Savage X Fenty show.
6. She once pulled an epic prank on Jimmy Kimmel.
As a fan of the April Fools’ pranks Jimmy pulls on celebs, Rihanna decided to create one of her own.
She did this by enlisting the help of Jimmy’s wife to wake the talk show host up at 1 a.m.
All of a sudden, she was dancing and jumped on his bed to one of her hit songs.
A flashlight was pointed at Jimmy as she threw dollar bills at him.
“It seemed like a UFO landed and I didn’t know what was going on,” Kimmel joked.
7. She’s been the center of a lot of cultural appropriation in the past.
The singer once faced backlash for representing an Arabian magazine, despite not being Arab.
Dressed in a snakeskin coat, blue eyeshadow, and a headdress, she was channeling 1300s Egyptian ruler, Queen Nefertiti.
People were not happy.
Another time, she dressed in traditional Chinese fashion for the August 2019 issue of Harper’s Bazaar China .
After hate rolled in, fans defended her by saying that the images were made for a Chinese audience by Chinese creatives.
8. She’s good friends with Jim Parsons.
The pair bonded on the set of Home .
“I wouldn’t say we’re BFFs, but it has been the easiest and most organic time spent together,” he told Entertainment Weekly .
He continued: “She’s such a joy to be around. I will say, I think I have been maybe a little irritating.”
He even has a fav song of hers: “What’s My Name.”
“She said at one point that it gives her chills when she hears me sing her songs. And not in a good way. You should see the look on her face when I take my tone-deaf [expletive] to her music.”
9. She once went to prom with a fan.
Thanks to an old MTV show called Once Upon A Prom , this guy won the once-in-a-lifetime chance to take RiRi.
Even more special is the fact that Rihanna handpicked him from a group of other high schoolers on the show who wanted to take her!
10. She has *many* lookalikes.
Will the real RiRi please stand up?
“Almost drop my phone. how?,” she wrote when she shared this image of her seven-year-old doppelganger, Ala’a Skyy. She also has an older lookalike on TikTok .
11. Barbados paid homage to the star.
She’s got her own beauty line, fashion line, and now her own street!
The singer grew up in Barbados on Westbury New Road. To honor the star, they renamed the street, Rihanna Drive.
The singer was touched by the ceremony, which was led by Prime Minister Freundel Stuart.
“Westbury is more than a community, we’re family!” she wrote on Instagram.
“Thank you for all that you’ve poured into my life and the woman I am! It takes a village, and I’m glad my village was you!!!! To God be the Glory!!!! #RiRiDrive”
12. Her legs are insured for $1 million.
Those are some expensive gams.
This honor took place in 2007 after Gillette named her 2007 Celebrity Legs of a Goddess. Rihanna wasn’t too keen on the insurance that came with the title.
“But I think I’m just normal. I think, ‘Do people really insure their legs for a million dollars?'” she told *The Guardian*.
“If it was my million dollars, I’d probably walk about in pants all day long,” she said .