In recent years, US-UK singer Rihanna has always been in the top of the richest women in America, honored by Forbes alongside the world’s youngest self-made female billionaire Kylie Jenner. She soon became famous and became an A-list singer known to fans around the world for a series of hit music products, but her career only really blossomed when she entered the beauty and cosmetics industry. and own its own brand.
Recently, according to Forbes, Rihanna officially surpassed Madonna to become the richest female singer in the world with a fortune of $600 million. This female pop singer’s life might seem to only be “blooming”, but in truth, before reaching the peak of her career, Rihanna also experienced painful and violent memories.
Childhood was filled with violence
Rihanna, full name Robyn Rihanna Fenty, was born on February 20, 1988, in Saint Michael, Barbados. She grew up in a normal family with parents who were civil servants, 2 siblings and 2 half-sisters.
The 31-year-old singer experienced a painful, haunted childhood due to her father’s alcoholism and cocaine addiction. She and her mother were often beaten, had to have CT scans many times and endured severe pain. Her mother was even beaten until her nose was broken but did not dare go to the hospital because of shame. When she was just 14 years old, her parents divorced and from now on, Rihanna had to worry about having to pay for food and money to take care of her children.
With a passion for singing since childhood, a year later, Rihanna auditioned and quickly caught the eye of famous rapper JayZ and record label Def Jam. Then both sides signed a contract, marking the beginning of her career.
Rihanna’s music products were soon accepted and loved by fans. 2007-2008 was the period when the female singer rose to become a world-famous name, receiving countless prestigious awards such as MTV Video Music Awards and Grammys. To date, after more than 15 years of singing, Rihanna is still a name sought after by fans even though the frequency of her musical activities has decreased.
First love seems beautiful but is also steeped in violence
Besides her dream music career, her first love with talented American singer Chris Brown was also something enviable for many people.
Good friends since 2005, RiRi (as fans call her) and Chris Brown officially announced their relationship in 2008. At first, both were extremely happy, they collaborated on songs. sing and openly attend events together. However, things got worse when Chris used his fists on RiRi in 2009.
Rihanna and Chris Brown once had such sweet moments
The first controversy broke out when Rihanna found nearly 3 pages of love messages from Chris Brown sent to another woman. The male singer tried to push Rihanna out of the car but couldn’t because she was wearing a seat belt, and just like that, he hit the singer’s head against the car and then punched his lover in the face.
This is just one of the assaults that Rihanna suffered during the year the two were in love. Chris is said to constantly have violent, uncontrolled behavior with his lover. As a result of Riri’s beatings, Chris Brown was sentenced by the court to 5 years of probation and 6 months of community service.
The bruises on Rihanna’s face caused by Chris Brown shocked the public
So once again, from her sweet and dreamy first love, she had to endure pain and obsession like what her mother had experienced.
Letting the past rest in peace, Rihanna entered the cosmetics market and built her own empire
Famous as a singer, today, Rihanna, the 31-year-old female singer, has also become a fashion icon, entrepreneur and the first black woman to own a big-name luxury fashion house. All those efforts have helped her create a fortune worth $600 million, making her the richest female singer in the world, far surpassing Madonna ($570 million), Céline Dion ($450 million) and Beyoncé ( 400 million USD).
Most of Rihanna’s income comes not from music but from her partnership with LVMH, the French luxury goods giant run by billionaire Bernard Arnault. The singer and LVMH co-own the makeup brand Fenty Beauty, which launched in September 2017 at Sephora and quickly became an unexpected success.
Rihanna is especially successful with her cosmetics brand Fenty Beauty
Fenty Beauty achieved $100 million in sales in just the first few weeks, which is largely attributed to Rihanna’s popularity as she has 71 million Instagram followers. Like Kylie Jenner and the Kylie Cosmetics brand, Rihanna takes full advantage of social media networks and reputation to market her brand at a significantly lower cost.
But just relying on reputation will hardly get you far. Fenty makes users satisfied with its own differences. This brand has launched more than 40 types of foundations, a much larger number than other brands.
” Fenty has challenged the standard convention that you only need a few foundations to satisfy the market.” , said Stephanie Wissink, a research analyst at Jefferies. “This brand not only achieved huge sales but also had the potential to change the industry forever.”
Sales continued to skyrocket. Fenty Beauty generated an estimated $570 million in revenue last year, after just 15 months in business. The entire operation is worth more than $3 billion. Forbes estimates LVMH owns about 50% of it, and Rihanna has about 15%.
Not stopping at the cosmetics industry, recently, WWD also reported that Rihanna is preparing to launch her own luxury fashion brand. Although this information has not been confirmed, if true, it would not be surprising.
With her impressive fashion sense, Rihanna once became the creative director of Puma and launched the Savage X Fenty lingerie product line, so it is understandable that the female singer continues to expand her empire.
In the end, the severe physical and mental wounds of the past could not make Rihanna break down and stop. Persevering in pursuing her dream, success pursued the talented female singer. She also received “sweet fruit” in love when she was having a happy, sweet time with her Saudi Arabian billionaire boyfriend.
