Source: Kevin Mazur / Getty
Rihanna enjoyed the birth of her first child this past May with longtime partner A$AP Rocky. But more good news awaits the 34-year-old entrepreneur: she was recently declared as the youngest self-made billionaire in the U.S. by Forbes, with a current estimated net worth of $1.4 billion.
RiRi (whose full name is Robyn Rihanna Fenty) made the publication’s eighth annual list of “America’s Richest Self-Made Women,” landing at No. 21 overall. This year’s theme was “persistence and entrepreneurial success despite the headwinds from the downturn in the stock market,” said Kerry Dolan, Assistant Managing Editor at Forbes. The Bajan beauty is “of course, known for her music,” added Dolan. “But she’s on the list because of her business savvy and her co-founding of Fenty Beauty, [her] cosmetics empire with LVMH.”
When ranked according to the age of honorees, Rihanna unseated Kim Kardashian for the title this year, bumping the Skims founder to second place. She also beat out Kardashian’s younger half-sister Kylie Jenner, who was dubiously awarded the honor in 2019 before Forbes rescinded it the following year.
Some other notables who made this year’s roster of the wealthiest self-made women in the U.S. are:
- Taylor Swift (at 32 y.o. with an estimated net worth of $570M),
- Beyoncé (at 40 y.o. with a reported net worth of $450M); and
- Serena Williams (at 40 y.o. with a reported net worth of $260M).
The present bulk of Rihanna’s wealth may lie in her expansive Fenty brand, which covers lingerie, cosmetics, perfume, and more. And it’s been six years since she released Anti, which she considers her “best album to this day.” However, based on her May 2022 interview with Vogue, Rihanna hasn’t wholly abandoned music just yet.
“I’m looking at my next project completely differently from the way I had wanted to put it out before. I think this way suits me better, a lot better,” she told the outlet. “It’s authentic, it’ll be fun for me, and it takes a lot of the pressure off.”
“Balance is one of my biggest challenges and always has been,” Rihanna added. “And now there’s another human being coming into play, it changes what that means again. Still, I have businesses that aren’t going to run themselves. My mom handled the three of us [herself and her brothers Rorrey and Rajad] with not even close to the amount of resources that I have, so I can absolutely do it. What it looks like? I’m not sure.”
