Rihanna’s biggest Super Bowl twist was a pregnancy reveal, and fans are all kinds of emotional
Rihanna’s long-awaited Super Bowl halftime performance was full of iconic twists – not least kicking it off by unveiling a baby bump.
The global pop star took centre stage during an explosive halftime show at the 2023 Super Bowl, and as the camera panned away from her in the opening shot, in which she blessed the stadium with a powerful rendition of “Bitch Better Have My Money”, she played up the big reveal by cradling her stomach underneath her red jumpsuit.
After hinting that she was pregnant throughout the performance, representatives for Rihanna have since confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that the superstar has a baby on the way, making her the first pregnant woman to star in the halftime show.
The news makes Rihanna’s comments about performing the halftime show as a new mother all the more meaningful.
Back in May, Rihanna gave birth to her now nine-month old son with rapper A$AP Rocky. And in a recent interview the singer said: “When you become a mom, there’s something that just happens where you feel like you could take on the world — you can do anything.
“And the Super Bowl is one of the biggest stages in the world, so as scary as that was … there’s something exhilarating about the challenge of it all. It’s important for my son to see that.”
Naturally, social media was positively buzzing throughout Rihanna’s performance as fans went into investigation mode to determine whether the singer was pregnant with her second child.
“Rihanna announcing her pregnancy was not on my #SuperBowlLVII bingo card, but I am SO here for it,” one Twitter user wrote, summing up the mood of everyone tuning in around the world to see a surprise pregnancy reveal.
Some are digging into the archives to see if any clues were missed along the way, pulling up a recent interview where she joked that she was “thinking of bringing someone” as a “surprise”. Since there were no surprise appearances, it could well have been the first breadcrumb.
Others are simply in awe at her badass ability to take the stage and deliver such a phenomenal and transcendent Super Bowl performance.
Some fans are sharing concerns that the news might mean even more album delays, although nothing has been said either way.
Click here to join our new PinkNews Alerts WhatsApp group for daily digests of our hottest LGBTQ+ news and features.