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Rihanna's father, Ronald Fenty, passed away in the early hours of Saturday, May 31, at the age of 70. As per a report by Starcom Network Inc., which was the first outlet to break the news, Ronald Fenty died after "a brief illness" in California.
Rihanna, who is currently pregnant with her third child, was born to Ronald and Monica Braithwaite on February 20, 1988. The Umbrella songstress has two brothers, Rajad and Rorrey. Additionally, she has three half-siblings from her father's past relationships: her brother, Jamie, and her sisters, Samantha and Kandy.
As per TMZ, Ronald Fenty's son, Rajad, was photographed arriving at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on Wednesday. The report also states that the Grammy winner was in the same car. However, she was not clicked.
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As of the time of writing, few details are available about Ronald Fentry's death. Members of the Fenty-Braithwaite family have yet to release public statements after the death of the 70-year-old patriarch.
Exploring Rihanna's relationship with her father, Ronald Fenty
Rihanna has had a rocky relationship with her father over the years. The Barbadian singer's public falling out with Ronald Fenty started in 2009 when the latter reportedly spoke to the press about her daughter. Ronald opined on reports of the singer getting assaulted by her then-boyfriend, Chris Brown.
Referring to the same in a 2011 interview with Vogue magazine, she said:
“It really makes me question what I have become to my father. Like, what do I even mean to him? …..It’s really strange. That’s the only word I can think of to describe it, because you grow up with your father, you know him, you are a part of him, for goodness’ sakes! And then he does something so bizarre that I can’t begin to wrap my mind around it."
The songstress continued:
"My dad went to the press and just told them a bunch of lies. Because he hadn’t talked to me after…that whole thing…. He never called to find out how I was doing, if I was alive, nothing. He just never called. He went straight to the press and got a check. And now he does it again."
In an interview with Oprah the following year, she revealed that she had mended her relationship with Ronald Fenty. The Grammy winner revealed that she had confronted him about her traumatic childhood experiences.
"He taught me everything, and as awful as he was to my mom, at times, it didn’t compare to how great he was as a father. And I had to come to terms with that, and I was able to close that gap with him,” she added.
In 2019, Rihanna filed a lawsuit against her father, Ronald Fenty, alleging that he had exploited her name for financial gain. She claimed that her father solicited clients using her reputation for his 2017 company called Fenty Entertainment. However, she retracted the lawsuit in 2021, just three weeks before the trial was set to begin.
