Rihanna was interviewed by her Oceans 8 co-star, Sarah Paulson for Interview Magazine’s July 2019 cover, and the singer/serial entrepreneur dropped more than a few gems.
Read on for 5 takeaways from the interview.
She makes a conscious effort to take out time for herself and the things that matter: “I never used to be this way. It’s only the last couple years that I started to realize that you need to make time for yourself, because your mental health depends on it. If you’re not happy, you’re not going to be happy even doing things that you love doing. It’d feel like a chore. I never want work to feel like a chore. My career is my purpose, and it should never feel like anything other than a happy place. I’ve made little things a big deal, like going for a walk or going to the grocery store. I got into a new relationship, and it matters to me. It was like, “I need to make time for this.” Just like I nurture my businesses, I need to nurture this as well. I’ll shut things down for two days, three days at a time. On my calendar we now have the infamous “P,” which means personal days. This is a new thing.”
She’s ACTUALLY working on an album even though it’s obviously taking longer than it used to: “It’s the reason why an album isn’t being spat out like it used to. I used to be in the studio, only the studio, for three months straight, and an album would come out. Now, it’s like a carousel. I do fashion one day, lingerie the next, beauty the next, then music the next. It’s like having a bunch of kids and you need to take care of them all. It really does suck that it can’t just come out, because I’m working on a really fun one right now. I’m really happy with a lot of the material we have so far, but I am not going to put it out until it’s complete. It makes no sense to rush it, but I want it out. I’ve gotten to the point where I’m like, “Even if I don’t have the time to shoot videos, I’m going to put an album out.”
She didn’t always dream of being an entrepreneur or building an empire: I had one dream and that was for my music to be heard all over the world. I didn’t even think about the fame part, and then that came, and I was like, “Oh, shoot. Do I really want to do this?” But the thing that keeps me alive and passionate is being creative. With every business outlet, I’m making something from a vision to a reality, and that’s the thing I really enjoy. Music had led me to these other outlets, and to things that I genuinely love. My mom pretty much worked in the beauty and perfume industry for a long time—she did makeup for people and was a makeup artist—so I always loved that.
She does have a tough skin: I have to say, I’ve always had pretty tough skin—even as a little girl, which was completely due to my parents. They never sheltered me in any way. They would tease me, and I would tease them right back. By the time I got to school, I always had this feeling like the kids were stupid. Maybe that was god’s way of preparing me for what my life was going to be like. I don’t feel any way about people’s comments. I remember being a kid and being like, “Wow! I’m in a chat room. I can say whatever I want. They don’t know how old I am. They don’t know who I am, or where I am.” There’s that idea of being a child behind a screen and having that feeling like you can say anything. That child is who I imagine behind a comment every time I see one. They would never say that to my face. They probably wouldn’t even say hello.
She’s pretty shy: People don’t know that I’m shy. I kind of pretend it’s not happening, people read me as being confident. But I’m so shy I don’t even want you to know I’m shy.
