Rihanna To Oprah: ‘I Had To Make Peace With My Abusive Father’
Rihanna opened up to Oprah in a new interview about her dad’s violent behavior growing up. She had to make peace with him in order to forgive Chris, and have relationships with other men.
Rihanna made a shocking confession to Oprah Winfrey during her interview on Aug. 19 for Oprah’s Next Chapter, when she explained how her father Ronald Fenty was an addict, and extremely physically abusive to her mother.
The 24-year-old singer’s troubled home life led to a strained relationship with her dad — one she was only able to understand and work towards repairing after the 2009 abuse incident with ex-boyfriend Chris Brown.
“I was angry about a lot of things from my childhood,” she told Oprah.
She also described how her parents’ relationship affected her attitude towards other men. Once she felt like she was getting too close with someone she liked, she would completely turn them away and disappear.
“That was my idea of what I was supposed to do,” she said, and added that she wasn’t able to connect with a man on a romantic level.
Rihanna then told Oprah that it took her a long time to separate her dad’s role as a husband — which was violent towards her mom Monica Braithwaite — from his role as a father, which she described as being very loving.
“He was one of the best fathers,” she said. “As awful as he was to my mom at times, it didn’t compare to how great he was as a father.”
Forgiving Chris
Once Rihanna came to terms with her dad, she said all of her emotions started coming out — and she made the choice to forgive Chris.
“I had to forgive him because I cared about him still,” she said, adding that once she was able to make peace with her father, then she could finally make peace with Chris — and open herself up to other men.
What do YOU think about Rihanna forgiving her father HollyMoms? Let us know in the comments.
— Christina Stiehl
More Rihanna news:
- Rihanna To Oprah: ‘I Still Love’ Chris Brown
- Rihanna: I’m Happy As Long As Chris Brown Is At Peace
- Rihanna Reveals To Oprah She Forgives Chris Brown