Rihanna Doesn't Know Who She Is, But She Does Know That She Still Loves Chris Brown
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Oprah sat down with Rihanna in the pop star's homeland of Barbados on last night's episode of Oprah's Next Chapter. In the clip above, Oprah asks RiRi who she is and the pop star, whose fame that dates back to her mid-teens has presumably arrested her development, gives non-answers that would sound lightweight on a dating site (she loves to have fun, she's intrigued by things that are a little adventurous, she wants people to feel good, "whatever that means"). You're shocked that she didn't mention her art once in her self-summary, right?
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A bit more raw were her musings on Chris Brown, which took up two full segments. After the teary recollection of the abuse she suffered at his hand in 2009, Ri told O that she and Brown are "working" on their friendship again, that they are not in fact an item (she's single, she says) and that she still loves him. She's got it bad, but she also says she's forgiven Brown and has "made peace" with the situation. She sounds very much under the influence of therapy, so good for her.
Rihanna isn't the deepest inkwell in the classroom (at one point, she explained that her imitation of her deceased grandmother saying, "Is a party? Is a party?" meant, "Is it a party?"), but she does seem equipped for finding peace within the treachery of celebrity. Sitting with Oprah against a backdrop of paradise, her don't-give-a-fuck attitude came off as sunny and endearing. But mostly, the interview revealed that Oprah Winfrey is a weirdo who uses the phrase "sexual skin" not to describe foreskin or labia, but to ask the question, "When did you get to be or how did you get to be so comfortable in your own sexual skin?" The answer? Rihanna faked it till she made it.