Donning an oversized Chanel puffer jacket with colorful jewels and a gold cross adorning her midsection, Rihanna debuted her baby bump and all but verbally confirmed mounting suspicions that she is pregnant and expecting her first child with beau A$AP Rocky, real name Rakim Mayers.
Photographs of the couple were captured in the Harlem borough of New York City, the neighborhood in which A$AP Rocky grew up.
Several snaps were taken during the session, featuring the couple together and solo shots of a visibly pregnant Rihanna.
In May 2021, A$AP Rocky gushed about finding love in a COVID-19 pandemic with Rihanna, referring to Robyn Fenty as the "love of my life" and "the one."
"I think I'd be an incredible, remarkably overall amazing dad," he said at the time, adding that starting a family is in his "destiny."
"I would have a very fly child. Very," said the "Fashion Killa" rapper.
Rihanna, left, and ASAP Rocky attend The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of the "In America: A Lexicon of Fashion" exhibition on Monday, Sept. 13, 2021, in New York
© AP Photo / Evan Agostini
Rihanna has also been candid about her desire to have children, and told British Vogue in March 2020 that she adopted a new approach to living after coming to the realization that life is short.
"When you're overwhelmed, you need to start cutting things out. And I'm overwhelmed too much," Rihanna told the magazine, shortly after parting ways with billionaire Hassan Jameel, a boyfriend of three years. "What's happening now is that I'm going back to black and white. My gray area is shutting down."
She went on to detail that she imagines having "three or four" children. A partner, however, was not a necessity.
"The only thing that matters is happiness; that's the only healthy relationship between a parent and a child," Rihanna said. "That's the only thing that can raise a child truly, is love."
As celebrity friends like rapper Nicki Minaj rushed to congratulate Rihanna on her pregnancy reveal and the experiences to come, it would appear the pop star's fanbase is not too thrilled with the news for a variety of reasons, ranging from gripes with Rihanna's music hiatus to concerns about A$AP Rocky as a partner and father.
There was also a section of social media humorously mourning the loss of a chance to get with Rihanna. Several viral tweets notably brought up rapper Drake, who was notoriously rejected by Rihanna after he referred to her as "someone I've been in love with since I was 22" while presenting the singer with the Vanguard Award at the 2016 MTV Video Awards.