Old image of Rihanna and A$AP Rocky was taken in 2023 before their second child was born

Published on April 15, 2024 at 18:14
3 min read
By AFP South Africa

Superstar Rihanna had the entertainment world rapt when she revealed she was pregnant with her second child with rapper A$AP Rocky during her halftime performance at the Super Bowl in 2023 -- shortly after the birth of their first child. Since then, social media has been rife with misinformation about the couple's growing family, including an old photo shared thousands of times with false claims that it shows them expecting their third child.

"Rihanna and ASAP Rocky with their third kid," reads a Facebook post published on April 6, 2024.

Shared more than 10,000 times by an account called "SA Hip Hop 247", the post includes a photo of the singer with partner A$AP Rocky walking in the street while holding hands. Her cropped sweater and low jeans show off her belly.

Screenshot of the false Facebook post, taken on April 10, 2024

A similar claim circulated on X.

However, the photo of Rihanna is old and was taken when she was pregnant with her second child.

Second baby

Results from a reverse image search found that the picture is more than a year old and showed Rihanna and the father of her children shopping in Los Angeles in March 2023.

Multiple entertainment sites published images of the excursion, including the one linked to the false claims (archived here and here).

A screenshot of the same photo originally taken on March 15, 2023

A YouTube video published by celebrity news agency Backgrid on March 16, 2023, shows footage taken from the same day (archived here).

At the time, Rihanna was pregnant with the couple’s second child.

The Barbados-born musician and beauty mogul revealed the news during the Super Bowl 2023 halftime performance when she rubbed her belly while wearing a fire-engine red jumpsuit on February 12, 2023 (archived here and here).

Rihanna performs during the halftime show of Super Bowl LVII at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, on February 12, 2023 (AFP / ANGELA WEISS)

Some reports said the reveal was “unplanned” as the zipper on her jumper would not close on the day (archived here).

The couple welcomed their first baby in May 2022 and their second arrived in August 2023 (archived here).

More children

The claim resurfaced after Snopes debunked it in November 2023 (archived here).

❌ No, internet, Rihanna has not announced that she is expecting a third baby with A$AP Rocky. https://t.co/qDtBpnwLLH pic.twitter.com/C1KKYeHn0Q
— snopes.com (@snopes) November 14, 2023

The star made headlines after an exclusive for Interview magazine published in April 2024 and titled "Rihanna Is Ready to Confess" (archived here).

Asked if she wanted more children, she said: "As many as God wants me to have."

"I don’t know what God wants, but I would go for more than two. I would try for my girl. But of course, if it’s another boy, it’s another boy," Rihanna added.

AFP Fact Check has previously debunked claims about Rihanna, including a viral picture of her niece and rumours of her going to Burkina Faso to donate to displaced people.

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