Rihanna recalls first few days of motherhood were 'insane': 'You’re a zombie for the most part'

Rihanna may have only just confirmed she is pregnant with her second child after showing off her bump during the 2023 Super Bowl Halftime Show, but the singer is still in the stages of new motherhood.

And she has been reflecting about her experiences of welcoming her first child into the world.

The Umbrella singer, 34, gave birth to her first child, a boy, in May, 2022, who she shares with her partner A$AP Rocky, but the couple have still not yet revealed their son's name.

Introducing him to the world via a series of images for the latest issue and cover of Vogue, the new mum also shared a little about her parenthood journey so far and its totally relatable.

In an interview for the fashion bible's March 2023 issue, the nine-time Grammy award winner said that while her birth "was beautiful" and that she felt "blessed" by the experience, those initial days as a family of three were hard to get her head around.

“Essentially, from one person I became two," the Fenty founder told the publication. "You walk into the hospital as a couple and leave as a family of three. It’s nuts."

Rihanna went on to describe those heady first few days of motherhood as "insane," adding that "you don't sleep. At all. Not even if you wanted to."

"We came home, cold turkey, had no one," she added. "It was just us as parents and our baby. Man, you're a zombie for the most part."

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But that doesn't mean the new mum isn't enjoying the ride.

“Oh, my God, it’s legendary,” she says of her first months as a mother. “It’s everything. You really don’t remember life before, that’s the craziest thing ever,” she continued.

“You literally try to remember it – and there are photos of my life before – but the feeling, the desires, the things that you enjoy, everything, you just don’t identify with it because you don’t even allow yourself mentally to get that far, because…Because it doesn’t matter.”

Read more: Pregnant Rihanna stuns in red lace bodysuit on the cover of Vogue’s May issue

As well as discussing how she's adjusted to life with a newborn, Rihanna also talked about the difference between dressing while pregnant and dressing post-baby.

Rewind to her pregnancy wardrobe and the singer was regularly praised for her unapologetic sartorial choices, leading to praise she was rewriting the maternity dressing rulebook.

“Dressing for pregnancy was such a piece of cake,” she says. “But dressing in postpartum, what the f*** do you do? The week that I came home from the hospital — that was nothing but sweats and hoodies."

Rihanna adds that as the weeks went on, she "didn't know what to put on" because everything was either "too small or too big."

“You kind of just gotta wait it out otherwise you end up buying so many clothes you’re not going to use," she explained. "Well, unless you get pregnant again.”

The beauty entrepreneur also discussed the impact parenthood has had on her relationship and how it has united the couple.

"We’re best friends with a baby,” she says. “We have to be on the same page, but we’ve always kind of had that in our relationship. Everything changes when you have a baby but I wouldn’t say it’s done anything but made us closer.”

Read more: Rihanna's modern maternity wear among 2022's top fashion moments

She also further elaborated on her decision to perform at the Super Bowl, despite having a young baby and also being pregnant with her second child.

“It’s this knowing that you can do anything, even things that seem the craziest," she explains, adding that she still can't believe she told the NFL "yes."

Ultimately, she said she was "geeked on a challenge like that because you know what your body just did."

"You feel this sense of: ‘Nothing is impossible,'" she adds.

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It isn't the first time Rihanna has spoken about how becoming a parent had empowered her, previously revealing how new motherhood empowered her to feel like she could "take on the world".

"When you become a mom, there's something that just happens where you feel like you could take on the world. You can do anything," Rihanna explained at a press conference ahead of the Super Bowl.

"And the Super Bowl is one of the biggest stages in the world, so as scary as that was because I haven't been on stage in seven years, there's something exhilarating about the challenge of it all."

Rihanna noted that finding a work-life balance as a mother can sometimes feel "impossible", so she is therefore intent on only saying yes to opportunities that are very much "worth it".

She explained: "The balance is almost impossible because no matter how you look at it, work is always something that's going to rob you of time with your child.

"That's the currency now and that's where it goes. The magnitude of how much it weighs. When you make decisions on what you're going to say yes to, it has to be worth it."