Inside Rihanna and A$AP Rocky’s rags-to-riches family life

Rihanna is in her third trimester of pregnancy with her first child, and one thing’s for sure – this baby is going to grow up very different to its mum and dad.

Here’s how parents-to-be Robyn Rihanna Fenty and Rakim Mayers (aka A$AP Rocky)’s upbringings compare to how their child will live.

Rihanna grew up in a three-bedroom bungalow in the parish of St. Michael, Barbados, and at one point A$AP stayed in a Manhattan shelter with his mother.

But their child can expect a much more glamorous lifestyle.

Rihanna owns a US$22 million mansion in her home country, where she was named a National Hero in 2021 – only the second woman ever to get the Right Honourable title. Her property portfolio also includes a US$13.8 million manor in Beverly Hills, the US$10 million Tudor-style home just next door, plus a home in London.

A$AP Rocky was raised in Harlem, New York, which was also the location the couple used for their epic pregnancy announcement photo shoot. While his Barbados-born grandmother still lives there, the Back Home rapper later moved down to swanky SoHo. His main abode is a contemporary build worth US$3 million in LA’s West Hollywood neighbourhood, but the rapper also has a pad in London’s Mayfair. Every Thanksgiving, A$AP Rocky donates meals to the Regent Family Residence shelter where he once lived.

Rihanna endured an upbringing of abuse from her drug addict father Ronald Fenty, who she watched be physically violent to her mother, Monica Braithwaite. Her parents divorced when she was 14 and Rihanna often stayed home to take care of her brother and help out with childcare.

Rihanna – who experienced domestic violence herself when she was in a relationship with Chris Brown – gave US$2.1 million to charity to help mothers and children going through pandemic-induced domestic violence.

When asked by Vogue UK if she would be a single mum, Rihanna said she would, adding that she believes love is all you need to be a great mother.