After Rihanna and Beyoncé have been the subject of pregnancy speculation (yet again), Entertainment and Features Editor Nicole Vassell explains why we shouldn’t debate so loudly, whether or not there’s a bun in the oven
September 2019 saw music, fashion and beauty mogul Rihanna attend the Diamond Ball in New York City – a benefit for the Clara Lionel Foundation, which she set up in honour of her grandparents, and helps support global emergency response programmes. While looking incredible as usual, some footage and paparazzi shots that came from the event showed Rihanna’s stomach area not looking washboard flat. Unsurprisingly, this led to a burst of new headlines declaring the Bajan star as pregnant, with some even going as far as to speculate how far along she is – without any confirmation from Rihanna herself!
Now, to be fair to recent Rihanna pregnancy theorists, an interview snippet from the Diamond Ball showed her making reference to having children, as she told an Essence reporter: ‘I’m a black woman. I came from a black woman, who came from a black woman, who came from a black woman and I’m going to give birth to a black woman.’ However, the recent conversation surrounding her alleged pregnancy comes mostly from comments on the way her body looks – and I think this is an area where we can all afford to be a little more sensitive.
For one, the fact that having a curvier figure immediately leads to pregnancy rumours puts so much pressure on women to have ‘perfect’ bodies. The past couple of years have seen Rihanna embrace a curvier body shape, and she’s openly spoken about embracing her body getting ‘thicker’. And for many, this has only made her more endearing – it’s something that shows that even if you’re a multimillionaire on the world’s stage, your body goes through changes, and it’s okay.
Rihanna isn’t the only celebrity to face days, and weeks of comments about their pregnancy status following some curvier photos; fellow music star Beyoncé is a veteran of ‘is she, isn’t she’ discussion. When she shared some footage from her recent 38th birthday celebration, the internet was once again convinced that she was carrying a new sibling for Blue, Rumi and Sir. (At time of writing, there’s been no further news as to whether baby no. 4 for the Carters is in fact, on the way.) And though it seems harmless to send off a couple of tweets about her body, there’s no telling to the amount of trauma that global discussion about the curve of your stomach can cause.
Childbearing can be a very sensitive topic – imagine commenting on the body of a person who’s having trouble conceiving, or has recently miscarried? Beyoncé has had issues with fertility in the past, and Gabrielle Union, who has written about her struggles with conceiving, has also expressed how heartbreaking it was to have media and fan speculation on whether she’s pregnant, following another unsuccessful, private round of IVF, stemming from merely a photo of her stomach after a meal.
Now, I don’t want to get too high on my high horse and act as if I haven’t been guilty of ‘belly watch’ in the past – there is a real thrill in thinking you’ve discovered a secret, and a lot of the time it’s in good faith and excitement. However, what happens when you’re wrong? When all of your theories about a person’s appearance is literally down to the natural fluctuations of the human body? Though I’m talking about celebrities in this particular column, I know of people who’ve done it in real life as well – and it’s something that we can all afford to slow down on.
Of course, tomorrow both Rihanna and Beyoncé could announce that they are expecting babies, and fans around the world will rejoice in the upcoming arrival of new talented bundles of joy. But even so, it’s not really the business of the public to debate. So from now on, how about we mind the business (or, the uterus) that minds us – and have faith that when we’re meant to know about something, we will?
