The ‘We Found Love’ singer says her tough upbringing – as the eldest daughter in her family who had to cope with her father’s crack addiction – made her wise to the world, and her mother can’t believe how grown up she is despite the fact she is still only 23.
She said: “I saw too much. I was way too mature for my age. I guess that’s why I became rebellious. That’s what my mother thinks anyway.”
Rihanna was also famously a tomboy and didn’t learn how to act in a feminine way until she met one of her best friends, Melissa Forde.
She added: “I was one of the boys. I never saw the need for having girlfriends until I met Melissa. Melissa taught me how to be a girl.”
When she was embarking on her career, Rihanna was inspired by her musical idols and she continues to find inspiration from them now.
She added: “All those divas, Mariah Carey, Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston – they were my heroines.”