Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
How Rihanna changed the art of the pregnancy reveal
A CELEBRITY being pregnant has always been a newsworthy story and in the age of the internet, it has become an even bigger deal. It’s a way for the star to also gauge just how interested people are in them. If their pregnancy news remains a talking point for more than a week, you know you are a major star.
It’s not just about announcing the pregnancy, but how it is announced. Over the years we have seen major movie stars and musicians go the magazine route to tell the world they are with child. Demi Moore did it best in the 1990s with her August 1991 Vanity Fair cover that took the world by storm and changed celebrity pregnancy announcements. Speaking about the cover to Naomi Campbell, last year she said: “I understand what impact it had on the world. On women, on our permission to embrace ourselves in a pregnant state. But it was a moment that I was taking to really be in myself and be expressing myself and not trying to be anything other than me.”
The latest global celebrity to announce their pregnancy news and top headlines was Rihanna. Her pictures were taken by a street-style photographer while walking with the baby’s father, A$AP Rocky, on the streets of Harlem. The internet went into a meltdown.
The baggy clothing should have been a sign that she was expecting, but she has worn that since 2018.
It was Rihanna’s choice of outfit that also made her announcement different. She wore a silk puffer parka from the Chanel AW 1996 collection, showcased in 1995 in Paris. She layered Chanel jewellery and a Christian Lacroix Paris Couture Heart Crystal Cross pendant brooch.
She followed it up with a simple bump check-style image, where she wore a football jersey and leather gloves. It was a different approach. It made me think of the current trend of high glam pregnancy announcements loved by socialites and influencers that has all of us in a chokehold.
Take Ayanda Thabethe's announcement of her first pregnancy. She went full glam, shooting a high-quality video wearing luxurious silk garments while frolicking on sand dunes. It screamed decadent and luxurious and everyone loved it.
But then Rihanna dropped her pictures, choosing to forgo the luxury model made popular by her contemporaries, like Beyoncé and Nicki Minaj. It was almost as if she was saying: “Okay, it’s true. I am pregnant. Now leave me alone.”
In 2017, Beyoncé announced her pregnancy with the twins, sharing a picture of her cradling her belly while wearing a veil and kneeling before a backdrop of flowers. It was like a Renaissance Era-esque painting. The picture became the most liked on Instagram, with 11.2 million likes.
Kirsten Dunst shared the news of her pregnancy with a riff of her Marie
Antoinette role. Lying on a bed with a floral bedspread and gold headboard, she wore a lace Rodarte gown. The picture was taken for W magazine.
Nicki Minaj’s announcement in 2020 saw her wear a special bra by designer Lacey Dalimonte, which had baby trinkets, candy covered in Swarovski crystals, Barbie heels, and other unusual piece.
A pregnancy announcement will always be a big deal. But to make it headline news, the same old is not the way to do it.