Rihanna has joined Forbes’s annual billionaires list for the first time ever—a major career feat. The singer and Fenty Beauty founder wasnamed a billionaire by the outlet in August, and still
retains that status. She has a net worth of $1.7 billion, according to Forbes, and is the 1,729th richest person in the world. The outlet called her a “self-made” billionaire and credited her success primarily to Fenty Beauty.
“The cosmetics company, which she co-owns with French luxury retailer LVMH, generated more than $550 million in revenue in 2020,” Forbes wrote. “Her stake in the fast-growing cosmetics company comprises the majority of her fortune.”
Rihanna spoke about why she felt a little frightened being named a billionaire to Extra’s Rachel Lindsay in September.
“It’s scary,” she said. “I do think about it all the time. I make it a point to think about it, because I… get scared when, you know, the pedestal comes into play and we’ll put you up there and they keep wanting to put you up there… I’m like, ‘No, I want to be on the ground.’ I want to feel my feet on the ground because I know it’s not going to be a fall at all if anything, right?... I don’t want to be this icon… I want to remember who I am.”
Lindsay told her, “I know you said you don’t want to be like put up on this pedestal, but as a Black woman doing your thing, you know, your billionaire status—people are watching, and what does it make you feel like to know that young girls are looking at you and saying, ‘I can do that, too!’”
“I think that is what makes it worth it,” Rihanna said. “That’s what I want. That’s what I worked for. I want to be able to share my inspiration, I want to be able to be an inspiration, and I want to be inspired by even my fans, people who look up to me, I look up to them. And it’s mutual respect that I have because I wouldn’t be here without them.”