On 9 November 2009, Rihanna was honoured at Glamour Magazine’s Women of the Year Awards at Carnegie Hall, New York, alongside 11 other amazing women. She wore a gorgeous mermaid-style gown by the designer Stéphane Rolland that wasn’t very practical, as she struggled to walk in it, but it looked amazing.
As her tribute video played, Rihanna couldn’t help shedding a tear or two as she stood on stage. She told the audience: ‘I couldn’t possibly make it up here in this dress. As usual, I decided to wear the tightest dress I could find.’
She couldn’t climb the stairs onto the stage because of the dress, and instead entered from backstage, not that anyone minded. Rihanna’s award was presented by Iman, David Bowie’s wife, who is a model, actress and successful businesswoman; Iman explained why Rihanna was picking up the Woman of the Year award by saying: ‘This year we saw a different face of Rihanna – she’s an indelible image of worldly pain and now, more than ever, I am more than impressed with her honesty and courage. She has taken her own scars and used them to create a new story of strength and awareness.’ But Rihanna wasn’t given the award just because of the way she handled herself after her attack, but because of what she had achieved musically, and for all the great work she had done for children’s charities.
In her thank-you speech, Rihanna said: ‘I am shaking right now, I am so nervous but I am overwhelmed and honoured over this honour to be Glamour’s Woman of the Year.’ She also revealed that she had only just started thinking of herself as being a woman since she turned 21 and that she enjoyed being at an event to celebrate strong women. Her mum and her gran were her own ‘Women of the Year’, and she was so thankful to them, she continued. Indeed, she had flown in her family from Barbados so they could be at the event with her and help her celebrate.
It might have cost $50,000 to fly her mum, grandmother, brothers and aunts to New York, but it was worth every cent to Rihanna, as she loved introducing her family to Tyra Banks, Serena Williams and Stella McCartney after the awards ceremony. They then went on to the South Gate restaurant in the exclusive Essex House hotel for a meal together. She had been so busy promoting the album and ‘Russian Roulette’ that it was nice for Rihanna to just chill out and enjoy spending time with her family while they were in the US.