Rihanna effectively announced her second pregnancy in the middle of Super Bowl LVII when she gave millions of TV viewers a glimpse of her growing baby bump while headlining its halftime show.
As the 34-year-old singer first appeared on a floating platform over the stadium’s stage, she pushed the edge of her open jumpsuit away slightly and quickly ran her hand over her stomach in a seeming allusion to her pregnancy.
Here’s a clip showing that quick moment from the NFL’s Twitter account:
SHE’S BAAAACK
@Rihanna #AppleMusicHalftime pic.twitter.com/rH2G9r2RSc
— NFL (@NFL) February 13, 2023
A representative for the singer confirmed Rihanna’s pregnancy later that evening. This makes her the first pregnant Super Bowl halftime show headliner.
Rihanna had her first child, a baby boy whose name has not been announced, with partner A$AP Rocky in May 2022. The rapper was on the sidelines at the Super Bowl supporting Rihanna during her performance at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, on Feb. 12. Their son was present as well.
Here’s a rare glimpse of the nine-month-old boy from Rihanna’s TikTok account.
@rihanna hacked
During her half-time performance, Rihanna stood out, wearing a red jumpsuit in a sea of white-clad backup dancers. While performing a medley of some of her biggest hits like “Diamonds,” “Umbrella” and “We Found Love,” she swapped in and out two pieces of red Alaia outerwear. The first item was described as a puffer scarf that covered the shoulders and back. To end the set, she donned a floor-length puffer coat that seemed to be inspired by her late friend and fashion icon Andre Leon Talley. Talley died in early 2022.
Here’s a Twitter post from cultural critic Eric Darnell Pritchard explaining the speculation:
The ALT page said Rihanna’s look was a tribute to the iconic Andre Leon Talley and his red Norma Kamali sleeping bag coat. They were very close. He said her MET GALA moment with the canary yellow Guo Pei couture gown was his proudest moment. Now I’m in tears.
pic.twitter.com/CJNx76E4ST
— Eric Darnell Pritchard (@EricDarnell) February 13, 2023
Rihanna committed to being this year’s Apple Music Super Bowl LVII halftime performer when she was just three months postpartum. She put in serious hours to make the show a winner.
“When you become a mom, there’s something that just happens where you feel like you could take on the world — you can do anything,” she said at a pre-Superbowl press conference on Feb. 2, as quoted by The Hollywood Reporter. “And the Super Bowl is one of the biggest stages in the world, so as scary as that was … there’s something exhilarating about the challenge of it all. It’s important for my son to see that.”
You can watch the whole performance on the NFL’s YouTube channel.
This story originally appeared on Simplemost. Check out Simplemost for additional stories.
