Rihanna’s Rare Quotes About Motherhood After Welcoming Son With ASAP Rocky: ‘Most Love I’ve Ever Known’

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Rihanna's Rare Quotes About Motherhood After Welcoming Son With ASAP Rocky: 'Most Love I've Ever Known'

Loving every minute! Rihanna has given rare glimpses at how she and ASAP Rocky are settling into parenthood after welcoming their son. The Grammy winner and the New York native revealed in a January 2022 maternity photo shoot that they had a little one on the way. "They're both very excited," a source exclusively told Us Weekly of the couple, who were first linked in 2020. "Rihanna's going to be an amazing mother." According to the insider, the Savage x Fenty founder was "embracing" her pregnancy glow. "[She] sees it as a beautiful thing. She's been taking care of herself and her growing baby," the source told Us. "ASAP is attending to her every need, definitely treating her like a princess." Several months later, Rihanna shed light on the moment she told her partner about their milestone. "I wouldn't say [we were] planning [to start a family]," she recalled in her May 2022 Vogue cover story. "But certainly not planning against it. I don't know when I ovulate or any of that type of s–t. We just had fun. And then it was just there on the test." [jwplayer GyV1bml9-zhNYySv2] The "Love on the Brain" artist said she "didn't waste any time" informing Rocky that he was going to be a dad before confessing that she "always thought" she'd be married when she had kids. "Who the f–k says it has to be that way?" she continued. "I'm certainly not gonna let that get in the way of me being a mom. They're going to teach me more than I could ever teach them. And I want them to go for it. I want to see who they are in the world, who they become. Because I'm just here to keep them on the rails — a passenger as much as the driver." Us confirmed in May 2022 that the Barbados native gave birth. "Rihanna and ASAP have only shared the baby's name with close family members," a source exclusively told Us later that month. "They are keeping it a secret until they're ready to share it with the world." The musicians weren't ruling out baby No. 2 after meeting "their little bundle of love," the insider added. "They want a big family, for sure. Rihanna loved being pregnant and fully embraced her pregnancy body." Since becoming parents, Rihanna and the rapper have kept their newborn out of the spotlight — and quickly went back to their busy schedules. Along with planning her Savage x Fenty Vol. 4 presentation, the "Disturbia" singer earned the coveted 2023 Super Bowl halftime show gig. "If I'm going to leave my baby, I'm going to leave my baby for something special," she told The Associated Press of the opportunity in November 2022. "It was now or never for me." Shortly after her performance at the sporting event, Rihanna confirmed her second pregnancy.

News broke in May 2023 that the pair named their first child RZA Athleston Mayers, seemingly after the Wu-Tang Clan rapper of the same name.

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‘Living’ for Her Baby Boy

“I’m living for my son. Everything matters now. You really start to take a lot into account,” Rihanna said during a February 2023 appearance on the “Process with Nate Burleson” podcast. "Skydiving?! You really think about stuff like that — it’s not worth it. Everything is different, life before my son seems very obscure. It’s very small and cloudy, it just got better with him. It’s so much hard work but nothing is more fulfilling than that.”

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Taking Over the World

“When you become a mom, there’s something that just happens where you feel like you can take on the world and do anything,” the “Diamonds” singer said in a February 2023 press conference about her decision to perform at the Super Bowl LVII halftime show. “The Super Bowl is one of the biggest stages in the world. As scary as that was, because I haven’t been on stage in seven years, there’s something exhilarating about the challenge of it all.”

She added: “It’s important for me to do this, this year. It’s important for representation, it’s important for my son to see that.”

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Her 'Happy Baby'

The hitmaker told Entertainment Tonight in November 2022 that she "cherished" small moments with her son. "Oh, my God, [in] the mornings, like, seeing his morning face!" she raved. "Seeing a baby with, like, little bags and waking up and they're just, like, startled. They're trying to figure out where they're at. It's the cutest. It's my favorite part of the day. ... He's amazing. He's a happy baby."

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Learning to Be Patient

Rihanna reflected on her "wild" motherhood journey during a candid interview with Extra. "It is crazy. It is amazing. ... It's weird. It's all of those things, all at once. The best feeling, the best. The most love I've ever known. I can't describe it. It's new. It's fascinating. Every step, every facial expression, every new milestone. I love it," she gushed in November 2022.

Having a baby made her more patient, the beauty mogul admitted. "I thought I was getting better at patience, but this will sit you down. You are forced to be patient as a mom, as a parent, just in general," she said. "Your tolerance level goes down, but your patience goes up, if that makes any sense."

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Post-Baby 'Booty'

Giving birth "changed" the "Umbrella" artist's body — but she didn't mind. "I guarantee you it changed," she told InStyle in November 2022. "I had a baby. Let's be real. Now it's my booty because I got one."

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Staying Private

Rihanna and her beau didn't immediately reveal their little boy's name after he arrived, and the Fenty founder opened up about valuing her family's privacy. "We just didn't get around to it yet, really," she said in November 2022 of posting baby photos and announcing his name. "We've just been living. But I guess there's a certain freedom that comes with kind of just like getting it out there."

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Like Mother, Like Daughter

The "California King Bed" singer joked that she was turning into her own mother, Monica Braithwaite, after welcoming her son. "It is weird," she told E! News in November 2022. "Even the little things that annoy me about her, I do it. I literally make all of the same faces. I say the same things. I clear my throat the same way. I move my mouth the same way. ... I either never noticed it or it never happened until I had a baby."

Rihanna went on to praise her mom, teasing, "She's more snatched than me."

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The Greatest Joy

Rihanna gushed over her "fun" newborn during an interview with British Vogue in November 2022, adding: "No matter what you're doing or what you're feeling, when he smiles at you, everything else goes away."

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Everything Changed

"You really don’t remember life before, that’s the craziest thing ever,” the "SOS" songstress told British Vogue in February 2023 of becoming a mother. “You literally try to remember it – and there are photos of my life before – but the feeling, the desires, the things that you enjoy, everything, you just don’t identify with it because you don’t even allow yourself mentally to get that far, because … because it doesn’t matter.”

Rihanna added that the transition into motherhood was a "head f—k."

She continued: "Essentially, from one person I became two. You walk into the hospital as a couple and leave as a family of three. It’s nuts. And, oh, my gosh, those first days are insane. You don’t sleep. At all. Not even if you wanted to. We came home, cold turkey, had no one. It was just us as parents and our baby."

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She's Got Jokes

"My son when he found out his sibling is going to the Oscars and not him," Rihanna — who will perform "Lift Me Up" from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever at the 2023 Oscars — captioned a March 2023 Instagram photo of her son looking upset.