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Rihanna Opens Up Like Never Before in Rolling Stone Cover StorySinger discusses Chris Brown, her relationships and her upcoming role in 'Battleship'
The new issue of Rolling Stone – on stands and online in the digital archive on Friday, features a deep interview with Rihanna in which she talks to contributing editor Josh Eells about her difficult upbringing, the endless rumors about her relationships and why she agreed to let a judge ease the restraining order against Chris Brown. "That's my decision," she says. "It doesn't mean we're gonna make up, or even talk again. It just means I didn't want to object to the judge."
She hasn't heard from Brown in a very long time. "We don't have to talk ever again in my life," she says. "I just didn't want to make it more difficult for him professionally. What he did was a personal thing – it had nothing to do with his career. Saying he has to be a hundred feet away from me, he can't perform at awards shows – that definitely made it difficult for him."
<span style="font-weight: bold">Other highlights from the story:</span>
• She went through an incredibly difficult time after the Brown incident. "I put my guard up so hard," she says. "I didn't want people to see me cry. I didn't want people to feel bad for me. It was a very vulnerable time in my life, and I refused to let that be the image. I wanted them to see me as, 'I'm fine, I'm tough.' I put that up until it felt real."
• Rihanna's hit single "S&M" is semi-autobiographical. "Being submissive in the bedroom is really fun," she says. "You get to be a little lady, to have somebody be macho and in charge of your [censored]. That's fun to me...I like to be spanked. Being tied up is fun. I like to keep it spontaneous. Sometimes whips and chains can be overly planned – you gotta stop, get the whip from the drawer downstairs. I'd rather have him use his hands."
"I like to take charge, but I love to be submissive," she says. "Being submissive in the bedroom is really fun. You get to be a little lady, to have somebody be macho and in charge of your [censored]. That's sexy to me. I work a lot, and I have to make a lot of executive decisions, so when it comes to being intimate, I like to feel like I'm somebody's girl."
What else does she like? "I like to be spanked. Being tied up is fun. I like to keep it spontaneous. Sometimes whips and chains can be overly planned – you gotta stop, get the whip from the drawer downstairs. . . . I'd rather have him use his hands." She goes on to recount a recent trip to a sex shop in Sydney called the Toolshed, where she left with two full bags of whips, blindfolds and dildos. The takeaway? "Don't go to a sex store tipsy."
Rihanna says that if it weren't for singing she might have been a psychologist, and she certainly has a deep sense of empathy. "I actually feel really bad for my father," she says. He was abused too – he got beat up by his stepdad when he was young. He has resentment toward women, because he felt like his mom never protected him, and unfortunately, my mother was the victim of that. I'm not giving him excuses. Right is right and wrong is wrong. I still blame him. But I understand the source."
<span style="font-weight: bold">"I do think I'm a bit of a masochist</span>," she says this evening. "<span style="font-weight: bold">It's not something I'm proud of, and it's not something I noticed until recently.</span> I think it's common for people who witness abuse in their household. They can never smell how beautiful a rose is unless they get pricked by a thorn."
She thinks it explains her attraction to tattoos (14 and counting, including a skull with a pink hair bow on her left Achilles, a pistol on her right rib cage and the words Never a Failure, Always a Lesson on her collarbone), as well as her "love-hate relationship" with the media, and the fact that the darkest moments of her life are out there for public consumption. "<span style="font-weight: bold">When I think about it, I really do take some pleasure in the negativity," she says. "I don't want to say turned on by it – but I'm turned on by it."</span>
The new issue of Rolling Stone – on stands and online in the digital archive on Friday, features a deep interview with Rihanna in which she talks to contributing editor Josh Eells about her difficult upbringing, the endless rumors about her relationships and why she agreed to let a judge ease the restraining order against Chris Brown. "That's my decision," she says. "It doesn't mean we're gonna make up, or even talk again. It just means I didn't want to object to the judge."
She hasn't heard from Brown in a very long time. "We don't have to talk ever again in my life," she says. "I just didn't want to make it more difficult for him professionally. What he did was a personal thing – it had nothing to do with his career. Saying he has to be a hundred feet away from me, he can't perform at awards shows – that definitely made it difficult for him."
<span style="font-weight: bold">Other highlights from the story:</span>
• She went through an incredibly difficult time after the Brown incident. "I put my guard up so hard," she says. "I didn't want people to see me cry. I didn't want people to feel bad for me. It was a very vulnerable time in my life, and I refused to let that be the image. I wanted them to see me as, 'I'm fine, I'm tough.' I put that up until it felt real."
• Rihanna's hit single "S&M" is semi-autobiographical. "Being submissive in the bedroom is really fun," she says. "You get to be a little lady, to have somebody be macho and in charge of your [censored]. That's fun to me...I like to be spanked. Being tied up is fun. I like to keep it spontaneous. Sometimes whips and chains can be overly planned – you gotta stop, get the whip from the drawer downstairs. I'd rather have him use his hands."
"I like to take charge, but I love to be submissive," she says. "Being submissive in the bedroom is really fun. You get to be a little lady, to have somebody be macho and in charge of your [censored]. That's sexy to me. I work a lot, and I have to make a lot of executive decisions, so when it comes to being intimate, I like to feel like I'm somebody's girl."
What else does she like? "I like to be spanked. Being tied up is fun. I like to keep it spontaneous. Sometimes whips and chains can be overly planned – you gotta stop, get the whip from the drawer downstairs. . . . I'd rather have him use his hands." She goes on to recount a recent trip to a sex shop in Sydney called the Toolshed, where she left with two full bags of whips, blindfolds and dildos. The takeaway? "Don't go to a sex store tipsy."
Rihanna says that if it weren't for singing she might have been a psychologist, and she certainly has a deep sense of empathy. "I actually feel really bad for my father," she says. He was abused too – he got beat up by his stepdad when he was young. He has resentment toward women, because he felt like his mom never protected him, and unfortunately, my mother was the victim of that. I'm not giving him excuses. Right is right and wrong is wrong. I still blame him. But I understand the source."
<span style="font-weight: bold">"I do think I'm a bit of a masochist</span>," she says this evening. "<span style="font-weight: bold">It's not something I'm proud of, and it's not something I noticed until recently.</span> I think it's common for people who witness abuse in their household. They can never smell how beautiful a rose is unless they get pricked by a thorn."
She thinks it explains her attraction to tattoos (14 and counting, including a skull with a pink hair bow on her left Achilles, a pistol on her right rib cage and the words Never a Failure, Always a Lesson on her collarbone), as well as her "love-hate relationship" with the media, and the fact that the darkest moments of her life are out there for public consumption. "<span style="font-weight: bold">When I think about it, I really do take some pleasure in the negativity," she says. "I don't want to say turned on by it – but I'm turned on by it."</span>
and just give us the sex tape...
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