Rihanna. Chelsea Lauren/Shutterstock
A special moment. Pregnant Rihanna proudly displayed her baby bump at the 2023 Oscars.
The singer, 35, walked the red carpet on Sunday, March 12, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. Rihanna stunned in a dark Alaïa gown with leather and sheer embellishments that showed off her pregnancy progress.
The “Umbrella” performer —who sang “Lift Me Up” for the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack — is nominated for Best Original Song and will perform the hit from the Oscar-nominated film.
In February, Rihanna was one of the first performers announced for the awards show. The news came shortly after her now-iconic halftime show at Super Bowl LVII when the Fenty founder subtly revealed that she and ASAP Rocky are expecting their second child by displaying her baby bump in an all-red Loewe ensemble. She even cradled her belly during her set, which marked her first live performance in five years.
“Rihanna had some butterflies going into this, but she was super professional and did a great job of focusing herself,” a source exclusively told Us Weekly at the time. “She was truly honored to get this chance, and the fact she got to reveal her pregnancy at the same time was just magical. It was something she and ASAP wanted to announce in a special way, and both of them agree nothing could be more special than on stage at Super Bowl halftime.”
Us confirmed in February 2020 that the “Only Girl in the World” songstress and Rocky, 34, were “hooking up.” After two years of dating, the couple announced Rihanna’s first pregnancy in January 2022 and welcomed their first child, a baby boy, four months later.
“It’s everything. You really don’t remember life before, that’s the craziest thing ever,” the “Diamonds” musician gushed to British Vogue in a cover story published in February. “You literally try to remember it — and there are photos of my life before – but the feeling, the desires, the things that you enjoy, everything, you just don’t identify with it because you don’t even allow yourself mentally to get that far, because … it doesn’t matter.”
Before becoming a mother, Rihanna decided to take a break from the music industry and focused on other endeavors, including her makeup business and lingerie line. She made her comeback in 2022 to record “Lift Me Up” for the Black Panther sequel’s soundtrack. The song is nominated for Best Original Song at the Academy Awards, competing with Lady Gaga’s Top Gun: Maverick song, “Hold My Hand,” “Applause” from Tell It Like a Woman, “Naatu Naatu” from RRR and “This Is a Life” from Everything Everywhere All at Once.
Ahead of her Oscars performance, Rihanna joked that her little one cried because he wouldn’t be at the awards show with his mom.
“My son when he found out his sibling is going to the Oscars and not him,” she captioned a photo of her son looking upset one week before the ceremony.