Rihanna Images & Interview For Esquire U.K.

Rihanna goes toe to toe with the interviewer for her Esquire U.K. cover story, featured in the July issue. The interview was conducted not long it seems after she released “Cake,” featuring Chris Brown. The questions are hard-hitting yet to be expected  given the timing, and while Rihanna is irritated, her answers are thoughtful and compelling. An excerpt is below:

Esquire: Some people felt [the collaboration with Chris Brown] sent the wrong message.
Rihanna: [Angrily] What was that? What message would that be?
Esquire: You’d gone back to someone who put you in the hospital.
Rihanna: [Getting angry] Oh really? Did I?
Esquire: Well… yes.
Rihanna: Did I? Did I? Did I?
Esquire: You went and recorded with him, yes.
Rihanna: Okay. In a completely professional environment. And on a complete professional note. I mean, if I went back to him [as a girlfriend], then that’s a whole different discussion. And if I ever do, then that’s something that y’all have to talk to me about when – if – that ever happens. Until then, look at it for what it is. I think a lot of people jumped to an assumption that was incorrect and they ended up looking stupid.
Esquire: The assumption you were dating again?
Rihanna: Because of a song. How stupid. If I was together with every collaborator I worked with… f-ck my life.
Esquire: Still, the lyrics didn’t do much to dispel that impression. His opening line is “Girl I want to fuck you right now/been a long time/I’ve been missing your body”. You reply: “Remember how you did it/If you still want to kiss it/Then come and get it”.
Rihanna: That was the tone before he was even on the record. You think it was going to be about hopscotch or jump rope?

Leaving a messed-up relationship isn’t easy, there are reasons both sides stay–in large part because there is no such thing as a perfect relationship and who is to judge. However, most of us get to make that leaving decision in our own time. It must be painful for celebrities like Rihanna who deal with so much fakery in their day-to-day lives (and in her case from a very young age) to be forced to quit the realness of the emotional connection that comes within an intimate relationship, just because the public won’t have it any other way. It’s like your last private refuge is stripped from you and you become completely public property.