Rihanna’s Father Ronald Fenty Dies At 70 After Brief Illness Amid Years Of Strained Ties

Rihanna's Father Ronald Fenty Dies At 70 in Los Angeles after brief illness.

(Source: Instagram)

New Delhi: Pop star Rihanna’s father, Ronald Fenty, has died at the age of 70 following a brief illness, PEOPLE magazine reported. The incident occurred in Los Angeles. The official cause of death has not yet been disclosed.

Fenty is survived by three children with his ex-wife Monica Braithwaite - Rihanna and two sons, Rorrey and Rajad. He also had three children from previous relationships: daughters Samantha and Kandy, and a son, Jamie.

The “Umbrella” singer, who is currently expecting her third child with longtime partner A$AP Rocky, has not issued a public statement about her father’s passing.

Rihanna and Ronald Fenty’s Relationship

Rihanna and her father were known to share a complicated relationship. Ronald and Rihanna’s mother separated and officially divorced in 2002 when she was 14. He reportedly struggled with substance abuse, and their bond was affected by emotional distance and conflict.

After Rihanna was assaulted in 2009 by her then-boyfriend Chris Brown, Ronald gave several interviews without his daughter’s consent.

In a 2011 interview with Vogue, Rihanna opened up about her strained relationship with him: “That’s the only word I can think of to describe it because you grow up with your father… you are a part of him, for goodness’ sake! And then he does something so bizarre that I can’t begin to wrap my mind around it… You hear the horror stories about people going behind people’s backs and doing strange things, but you always think, ‘Not my family. My father would never do that to me.’”

However, a year later, in an interview with Oprah Winfrey, Rihanna revealed that she had worked on repairing her relationship with her father: “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,” she said.

In 2019, the singer filed a lawsuit against her father, accusing him of exploiting her name by launching a company called Fenty Entertainment and falsely claiming to represent her. The case was dropped in 2021, just weeks before it was set to go to trial.