Rihanna shares exciting baby news during stunning Super Bowl halftime performance

Rihanna has kicked off her long-awaited Super Bowl halftime show performance by appearing to reveal she is expecting her second child.

The singer began her performance by rubbing her hands across her belly and giving the camera a sly look as she pointed to what looked to be a baby bump peaking out from her unzipped red latex one-piece.

Fans watching the performance rushed to social media to share their surprise, with one writing, “Wait is Rihanna pregnant or am I seeing s***?”

“Rihanna fans realising she is pregnant again, and they’re never getting another album,” another joked on Twitter.

“Mother Rihanna is pregnant with her second child,” another wrote.

The rumour appeared to be confirmed by podcast host Nate Burleson, who earlier spoke to the star. She told him at the time that her performance would feature a surprise guest.

But as fans noted Rihanna performed without introducing any other performers, one suggested the baby was in fact her “surprise guest”.

Rihanna performed a hit-filled set for today’s Super Bowl halftime show, marking her first live performance since 2016.

Rihanna took to the field at Arizona’s State Farm Stadium, halfway through the Kansas City Chiefs’ and the Philadelphia Eagles’ game.

Rihanna kicked off her halftime show in truly spectacular style, performing on one of several floating platforms that housed her and her dancers, flying through the air of the stadium.

The show was choreographed by none other than New Zealand’s own Parris Goebel and featured dancers from her crews.

Goebel shared a snap of Rihanna after the show on Instagram, captioning it, “WE DID IT!!!! GONNA GO CELEBRATE BRB!!!!”

New mum Rihanna’s set was low on demanding choregraphy but high on spectacle, as she walked the stage performing a mix of her own hits and some of her most famous duets.

Rihanna finished back on a small platform, once more hoisted aloft into the air to sing her Sia-penned hit Diamonds. As the cameras pulled in for a close-up, it was hard not to notice just how much that small platform - which Rihanna was not visibly attached to - was wobbling. If she was nervous, she wasn’t showing it.

It’s a much-anticipated career comeback for the 34-year-old singer, who hasn’t released an album since 2016 and who, in recent years, has spent more time on her career as a beauty mogul than as a pop star.

Rihanna did release her first new music in several years in late 2022, the ballad Lift Me Up from the soundtrack to the film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

“Everybody is saying that football is just opening up for her — it’s the Rihanna show,” Rihanna’s father Ronald Fenty told Page Six ahead of her halftime performance.

“It’s the moment that everybody has been waiting for.”

It comes after she earlier promised a “jam-packed” half-time show and revealed that choosing the setlist was the “biggest challenge”.

“That was the hardest, hardest part. Deciding how to maximize 13 minutes but also celebrate — that’s what this show is going to be. It’s going to be a celebration of my catalogue.”

This article was first published by the NZ Herald and is republished here with permission.