When she was fifteen Rihanna decided to enter a talent show at her school. She might have been singing from when she was three years old, but she had always kept it a secret from the kids at school. Her family had been encouraging her because she was really good, and so Rihanna decided to go for it. She was the youngest girl in the competition but her voice more than made up for it: the other girls might have been two years older but they weren’t as talented as Rihanna. She sang ‘Hero’ by Mariah Carey and owned the stage. Indeed, she wasn’t put off by the number of people in the auditorium and walked around with confidence. ‘Hero’ is a difficult song to sing, but Rihanna wanted to perform a challenging number rather than an easy one. If you haven’t seen the video of her performance, you can check it out on YouTube. Back then, she never even thought about having a singing coach, but she still managed to hit the high notes.
When it was announced that Rihanna was the winner she couldn’t believe it; she was overjoyed. Her family and friends were very proud of her, and the people in the auditorium felt blessed that they had seen her first big performance on a stage. Winning the competition made her even more determined to be a worldwide recording artist one day.
The following year she won the Miss Combermere Beauty Pageant, which Melissa helped organise, but singing was still her main focus. She might have had the looks to become a model, but Rihanna wanted more than that. She started making demos during the school holidays in the hope that they would lead to her securing a record deal one day. Her mum knew she was passionate about singing, but always told her that school had to come first. She made it clear that she would only let Rihanna drop out of school if she got a recording contract with a record label. Even when Evan signed her up at the age of 15, Monica still made her daughter stay on at school until the time was right: she wanted Rihanna to get her qualifications.
The main things that Monica taught Rihanna and her brothers when they were growing up were to be fearless and to take responsibility for their own actions. She might still live in Barbados, but Monica visits Rihanna in the US as often as possible. What’s more, she is a great cook, and Rihanna loves it when she gets to eat one of her mum’s home-cooked meals. Rihanna is also close to her cousin Noella, who visits whenever she can.
Rihanna might be a big star but her father still has to work for a living. He is no longer a warehouse supervisor, and instead sells things from the back of his car. It is thought that Rihanna hasn’t helped him out financially just in case it gets him involved in drug use again. He has been ‘clean’ for years now, and everyone in the family wants him to stay that way.
Ronald’s mum Betty is very proud of her granddaughter, as are her other grandparents. Clara Brathwaite is the name of Monica’s mum, and granddaughter and grandmother are very close. When Clare was celebrating 50 years of being married to her husband Lionel in April 2009, Rihanna made sure she flew over for the family party in Barbados. She wouldn’t have missed her grandparents’ celebration for the world.
Rihanna is so busy that she can only visit Barbados a couple of times a year, but she flies her family out to wherever she happens to be regularly. She speaks to her mum on the phone all the time, at least once a day, and keeps in contact with her brothers too. Rorrey is now studying to be an architect, and it looks as if Rajad will be working on something to do with computers when he’s older.
Over the years Rihanna’s relationship with her father has been strained, but he has tried to give her advice at times. Back in 2007 he talked to her about drugs and the harm they can cause. Drugs tore their family apart, and they were a major part of his life for over twenty years before he eventually kicked the habit. He actually started taking them when he was fourteen years old and still at school, and was a user when he first met Rihanna’s mum.
Of course Rihanna knew what drugs did to a person, having seen the effects of her father’s addiction, but she didn’t know what taking them was like firsthand. Ronald wanted to make sure it stayed that way, too – he didn’t want his daughter going off the rails like some other young stars. After they talked, Rihanna reassured him she wouldn’t be following in his footsteps. She is far too clever to do drugs!
Rihanna might be a big star now, but nothing has changed: she is still the girl from Barbados with a big heart. She doesn’t flaunt her celebrity status and enjoys tucking into boiled eggs and the other foods she ate while growing up.
Ronald insists that he doesn’t want any of Rihanna’s money and he just wants to be part of her life. Sometimes he wishes he could be by her side at awards shows, but he’s happy watching her on TV and seeing her whenever he can. He loves it when she rings and asks him to visit her.
At times Ronald and Rihanna have had a rocky relationship. In 2009 she fell out with him when he was visiting her in Los Angeles. He drank too much and rowed with her brother, so Rihanna simply decided that enough was enough, and had her father sent home. The two of them have mended their relationship now; they don’t see each other that much, because Ronald still lives in Barbados and Rihanna doesn’t have much time off from her hectic schedule, so when she does visit, she only has time to see him briefly, if at all. He has a daughter and son from another relationship, but they are shielded from the media.
After Rihanna was beaten up by her boyfriend, Chris Brown, in February 2009, her father found it hard to look at the shocking photos of her face; he couldn’t even give his daughter a hug or comfort her because he was over 3,000 miles away. Ronald pitied Chris, because he had made such a huge mistake and had ruined things for himself: people would always remember and Chris would never be able to escape what he had done. Ronald knew this because of what happened in his own relationship with Monica.