A somber Rihanna returned to her homeland this week to say goodbye to her father, Ronald Fenty, in a heartfelt Barbados funeral ceremony surrounded by family, including partner A$AP Rocky and their two young sons.
Rihanna is facing heartbreak while carrying a new life.
The superstar singer and business mogul was seen visibly emotional at her father, Ronald Fenty’s, funeral on Tuesday, July 8, in her home country of Barbados. Photos captured Rihanna, currently pregnant with her third child, arriving at the Garfield Sobers Gymnasium dressed in a nude, floor-length, draped gown and open-toe heels, holding her youngest son, Riot, as she made her way inside with family.
Behind her walked A$AP Rocky, dressed in khaki slacks, a crisp white shirt, and a gray blazer, gently holding the hand of their eldest son, RZA, age 3. The couple made the trip to the island with their boys to lay Ronald Fenty to rest. A man Rihanna once had a complicated relationship with, but had grown closer to in recent years.
According to WIC News, Ronald Fenty passed away in late May at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. His cause of death was reported as a result of multiple health complications, including acute respiratory failure, pancreatic cancer, aspiration pneumonia, acute renal failure, and acute tubular necrosis.
Following the formal ceremony, Rihanna and her relatives traveled to Christ Church, where her father was laid to rest at Coral Ridge Memorial Gardens. The family gathered to honor the man described in his obituary as the father of six, grandfather to 10, and great-grandfather to several more.
The program also acknowledged Rihanna’s prestigious national title, referring to her as “The Right Excellent Robyn Rihanna Fenty,” a nod to the honor bestowed upon her by the Barbados government in 2021.
While Rihanna has yet to make a public statement about her father’s passing, the nation mourned with her. Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley confirmed Mr. Fenty’s death in a heartfelt Instagram post earlier this summer.
Although their relationship wasn’t always easy, Rihanna and her father had reconnected in recent years. In 2023, she even invited him and his fiancée to the Super Bowl halftime show, where he watched his daughter stun the world and discovered, at the same time as the rest of us, that she was pregnant with her second child.
Since then, Ronald had reportedly become more involved in her life and the lives of her children.
Rest in peace, Ronald Fenty. Our hearts are with Rihanna and the Fenty family.
