Ronald Fenty died in Los Angeles on Saturday morning (May 31) following a short illness, leaving Rihanna, his globally recognized daughte r, grieving in private as she awaits the birth of her third child with A$AP Rocky.
The 70-year-old Barbados native’s passing was confirmed by Starcom Network News .
While the exact cause of death has not been disclosed, sources close to the family told the outlet that relatives have already arrived in California to pay their respects.
Rihanna has not issued a public statement and her representatives have declined to comment.
The singer, who has spoken openly about her turbulent relationship with her father, once described their bond as layered and often painful.
“I was so angry at him. I was just angry about a lot of things from my childhood and I couldn’t separate him as a husband from him as a father,” Rihanna told Oprah Winfrey during an interview in 2012, where she revealed she had repaired their relationship.
“I felt like if he was a bad husband, he was a bad father. I witnessed a lot of things in my childhood in my household,” Rihanna said, who also labeled him the “best father in the world.”
Fenty’s presence in Rihanna’s life was at times supportive and at other times strained. He and Rihanna’s mother, Monica Braithwaite, divorced in 2002 when the singer was a teenager.
As her career took off, their relationship became increasingly complicated because Fenty battled substance abuse.
In 2019, Rihanna filed a lawsuit against her father, accusing him of exploiting her name by launching Fenty Entertainment and attempting to book a $15 million tour without her consent.
She also alleged he tried to profit from the “Fenty” trademark. The case was dropped in 2021 after an out-of-court settlement.
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Despite their legal battles and personal rifts, Rihanna reportedly stepped in to help her father during the COVID-19 pandemic, sending him a ventilator and checking on him regularly.
Fenty later praised her, calling her “very special, very smart, very caring.”
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