Save for releasing her long-awaited ninth studio album, Rihanna has given her fans plenty of reasons to stan lately.
From being named the richest female musician in the world to becoming the first woman of color to ever helm an original fashion label for LVMH, the 31-year-old is continuing to level up with every passing day, all while inspiring fans to embrace exactly who they are and chase their own goals.
In a new conversation published by Interview magazine on Monday (June 10), the Barbadian powerhouse opened up about balancing her flourishing career with her love life, the latter of which she typically leaves up to speculation. During the feature, Rihanna speaks candidly with her Ocean’s 8 costar, Sarah Paulson.
In addition to talking about her faith and how she manages her time as one of the most in-demand businesswomen in the world, Rihanna also admits she’s in love, after she coyly tells Paulson to turn to Google to find out who she’s dating. While the easily searchable answer is simply businessman Hassan Jameel, Rihanna does take it a step further, confiding in Paulson about her yearning to become a mother.
“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,” Rihanna begins, talking about the importance of making time for what’s truly important. “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.”
She then continues, shifting the conversation to a rare talking point: her relationship.
“I’ve made little things a big deal, like going for a walk or going to the grocery store,” she shares. “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.”
Later on in the conversation, Rihanna admits that she wants to be a mother someday “more than anything in life.” She also explains that her decision to remain private about her personal life stems from a place of being shy by nature.
“People don’t know that I’m shy… because I kind of pretend it’s not happening people read me as being confident,” Ri confesses. “I still get nervous going to award shows. What is that? I always feel like everybody’s looking at me.”
After her and Paulson talk about the stresses that being on the red carpet bring, she also gives fans a reason behind why her highly anticipated album hasn’t been released just yet.
“It’s the reason why an album isn’t being spat out like it used to,” she adds. “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.”
Take a look at Rihanna’s conversation with Sarah Paulson in full via Interview magazine.