Rihanna’s father Ronald Fenty has reportedly passed away at age 70.
TMZ has reported that Ronald died in Los Angeles following an illness.
Starcomm Network, a radio station in Barbados, Rihanna’s home country, reported Ronald’s passing. He died on Saturday morning after a brief illness, and family members are currently in California.
When exactly Ronald passed and an official cause of death remain unknown.
DailyMail.com has contacted representatives for Rihanna for comment but did not immediately hear back.
Rihanna has had a tumultuous relationship with her father which saw them become embroiled in legal woes at one point.
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In 2019, Rihanna filed a lawsuit against her father for using their last name for his company, Fenty Entertainment. She alleged that he and his business partner falsely presented themselves as her agents.
She withdrew her lawsuit in 2021, and it’s believed that the two came to a settlement.
Ronald has battled addiction to crack cocaine in the past and has long been a heavy drinker.
Rihanna told Oprah that as a child she witnessed her father physically abuse her mother, once breaking her nose.
Then in 2008 Ronald was sent home from her North American tour following his drunken behavior on her tour bus.
Ronald has said that Rihanna then froze him out for two years before they reconciled.
In 2013 the singer quietly put Ronald through a $58,000 Malibu rehab program to save him from jail after he was arrested during a visit to California.
But in 2014 Ronald was thrown out of her Diamond Ball after embarrassing his daughter by getting drunk and falling over on the red carpet.
He left California without seeing his daughter on that trip, although the two later reconciled once more.
And despite their subsequent legal problems, Rihanna even purchased a large house that he lived in.
Rihanna is one of three children Ronald shared with his ex-wife Monica Braithwaite, whom he divorced in 2002. In addition to the Grammy winner, they also have sons Rajad and Rorrey.
Ronald also has three other children from previous relationships – Kandy, Samantha, and Jamie.
TMZ published a photo of Rihanna’s brother Rajad Fenty arriving to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on Wednesday in a car. His sister Rihanna is said to have been in the vehicle as well however she was not pictured.
Despite their conflicts, Rihanna and Ronald appear to have overall remained on good terms.
At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ronald praised Rihanna for providing him support after he contracted coronavirus.
‘My daughter Robyn was checking in on me every day,’ he told The Sun at his home in Barbados April 2020, referring to the pop star by her birth name.
Ronald said Rihanna did everything she could to help him from her home in the U.S.
‘I thought I was going to die to be honest. I have to say, I love you so much, Robyn,’ he told the outlet.
‘She did so much for me. I appreciate everything she has done.’
The pop star even purchased a ventilator and sent it to Ronald in Barbados, but he had yet to use it at the time.
In 2022, Ronald told Page Six he was ‘ecstatic’ to learn Rihanna was expecting her first child with partner A$AP Rocky (the couple are now expecting baby number three, with Rihanna unveiling her pregnancy at the Met Gala).
‘I’m so happy that I jumped for joy. I’m still so excited,’ Fenty told the outlet.
‘Rihanna always said that she wanted children, she loves kids. She always takes care of her cousins’ kids…she’s going to be a good mom,’ her father said.
The celebrity father, who spoke via phone from his home in Barbados, said he found Rocky to be ‘a very cool guy’ after the two got a chance to meet when his daughter brought the rapper home in December 2020.
‘I like him,’ he added, before revealing that he got the news of Rihanna’s pregnancy a day before she and Rocky (born Rakim Mayers) went public with her burgeoning tummy.
‘I just got the news from her last night, and she sent me some photos,’ he said. ‘I’m just over the moon. She’s beautiful inside and out.’
