While fans may be waiting on Rihanna’s ninth studio album, the singer has been hard at work growing her wealth. As a musician, beauty guru, and business mogul, Rihanna’s net worth last year jumped to a whopping $1.7 billion. That’s a number that’s hard to conceptualize, and even Rihanna agrees. The singer recently said when reflecting on her “humble beginnings,” her billionaire status can be “hard to even accept.”
Speaking in a recent interview with the New York Times, Rihanna said it can be difficult to wrap her head around her massive fortune:
“It’s tricky because it’s hard to even accept that’s where you’re at because I know where I’ve come from. At the same time, it feels good to be able to inspire young women and boys, who like me, come from humble beginnings, who come from parents who are immigrants or who are immigrants themselves, to be able to do this.”
Elsewhere in the conversation, Rihanna noted that she aims to give back. She wants a lot of her massive fortune to benefit her Clara Lionel Foundation, which is named after her grandparents Clara and Lionel Braithwaite. The foundation not only funds emergency responses to natural disasters caused by climate change, but it also supports education initiatives for marginalized communities. “Every dollar I make, I want to give it back,” she said. “When it comes to people who need help, it hurts when I can’t do as much as I want, so now we’re just putting our foot down and C.L.F. is about to grow in a way that I’m really proud of.”
Read Rihanna’s full interview with the New York Times here.