What We Know About Rihanna And Kanye West's Relationship

Rihanna and Kanye "Ye" West appear to be living very different lives these days. Ye's been trending — but for all the wrong reasons. Whether he's including a "White Lives" Matter" sweatshirt in his Yeezy collection at Paris Fashion Week, airing out his dirty laundry after splitting from Kim Kardashian, or moving on with a quickie marriage, the rapper has been a lightning rod for controversy. Meanwhile, Rih has made headlines for different reasons. The "Diamonds" singer — who headlined the Pepsi Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show in February — unveiled her second pregnancy at the same event. "She loves being a mom so this is where her mind is at the moment," a source told People, adding that RiRi is "the happiest she has ever been."

It's not-so-great news for fans who have been eagerly anticipating the star's next album, given that motherhood will certainly delay her triumphant return to the music space, but it is great news in general. And while Rihanna is working on expanding her family, Ye is still navigating a sometimes contentious relationship with his ex-wife. Judging by the pair's respective news, their paths have split. The entertainers may have previously attended the same industry events, but they're now marching to the beat of their own drums. So, does this mean that Ye and Rihanna are still friends? Were they even friends in the first place?

Though Kanye "Ye" West's former friends (John Legend, Jay-Z, and others) have cut ties with the rapper in the wake of his various controversies, Rihanna has stuck by her friend's side. During her performance at the Super Bowl Halftime Show, Rih paid tribute to Ye with her outfit, which mimicked the all-red getup he wore to the "Donda" listening party in 2021. Per The U.S. Sun, her floating platform was also inspired by Ye's Saint Pablo tour. "Rihanna is still great friends with Ye, and so is [A$AP] Rocky," a source told the outlet. "She doesn't care if people are offended by her paying tribute to him at the Super Bowl. She still supports him, even if she doesn't always agree with what he has to say, or his political views."

Likewise, Ye has long been vocal in his admiration for Rihanna, whether he's gushing over her to Interview Magazine, praising her "potential to become the greatest artist of all time," or dressing up his daughter North West to look just like her. Fans even believed that his admiration bordered on flirtation. Rumors flew after a clip of Ye gazing adoringly at Rihanna at the 2016 VMAs went viral, potentially sparking then-wife Kim Kardashian's ire. According to HollywoodLife, Kardashian wasn't comfortable with Ye going on tour with Rihanna — spoiler: he didn't — due to her insecurity. "[Kim] isn't jealous of that many women, but Rihanna definitely intimidates her," a source told the outlet.

Like many in the music biz, Kanye "Ye" West and Rihanna are frequent collaborators. The two share a mentor in Jay-Z, who famously discovered RiRi when she was 16 years old. While Rihanna was breaking onto the scene at the time, Ye had nearly 15 years of experience in the industry, and he supported the up-and-comer by working with her on tracks like "All of the Lights" and "Run This Town," both of which he produced. According to MTV, Ye played the entirety of his "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" for Rih, and "All of the Lights" was her favorite song on the album. "When [Kanye] asked me to come up to the studio at 2 o'clock in the morning, I had to, because I loved it, I knew it was that song," she explained. Ye also gushed over Rih's contributions to "FourFiveSeconds," his hit with Paul McCartney. "[Rihanna] has this type of energy in her vocals and brought it to another level of soul and heart and artistry," he told Ryan Seacrest.

In 2015, Billboard reported that Ye had plans to produce "Anti," Rihanna's record (via Vibe). "I played [Rihanna] my album," the Grammy winner explained. "And I said, 'I got a few songs with Paul McCartney.' She couldn't get past the record. She had to have it on her album." However, Ye later stepped down from production duties.

Kanye "Ye" West is so close to Rihanna, he even speaks out about her love life. As of 2020, Rih was linked to rapper A$AP Rocky, after splitting from Hassan Jameel. Rocky and Rihanna then announced their pregnancy in January 2022, but the couple was hit with cheating rumors not long after. In April, social media speculated that Rocky had cheated with fashion designer (and Rih's friend) Amina Muaddi, who decried the rumors as false, via Elle. Following that, Ye took to social media to share his own thoughts about Rocky's supposed infidelity. In a since-deleted Instagram post, the rapper wrote (via Page Six), "Ambush weak. Rocky f***ed Yoon. Next." Here, the 'Yoon' in question referred to Ambush's creative director and fashion designer Yoon Ahn.

It's unclear whether Ye's accusation was fueled by prejudice or fact, but — like Muaddi — Ahn debunked the claim, writing back, "LOL. Not true but okayy." In response, the Yeezy designer took a different track. "New confirmation," he wrote. "Rocky didn't f*** Yoon. Ambush still trash. ... Rule with Ye stay out of it unless you want to get into it. 'Cause all y'all was out of it when Chi was kidnapped on her birthday." Here, we might assume that Ye was upset because Yoon didn't defend him when Kim Kardashian allegedly chose not to tell him the address of their daughter Chicago's fourth birthday party. Whatever the case, Rocky didn't respond publicly to Ye's cheating claims.

Kanye "Ye" West's beef with A$AP Rocky didn't seem to dent his friendship with Rihanna. The "Diamonds" singer has continued to throw her support behind Ye, even for some of his worst choices. For example, when the rapper announced his intent to run for president in 2020, Rihanna told ET, "I mean, people are voting for [Donald] Trump. Who wouldn't vote for Kanye?" She also praised his Video Vanguard speech at the 2015 VMAs. However, Rihanna could not get behind Trump himself, and Ye's support of The Don proved to be a major sticking point in their friendship.

In 2018, Rih branded Trump's rallies "tragic" and tweeted that he "Please Do Stop [playing her] Music" at the events. She also earned the former president's ire by spray-painting "F*** Trump" on an art installation. Trump responded by slamming Rihanna's Super Bowl Halftime Show performance on his social media site, Truth Social.

By contrast, Ye — who has a liking for MAGA hats — counts himself among Trump's friends and supporters. As recently as 2022, the former commander-in-chief thanked Ye for saying "all those great things about me on Tucker Carlson," per Business Insider, and failed to denounce the Grammy winner's antisemitic remarks in the same interview.

Because Rihanna and Kanye "Ye" West's political leanings don't align, the FentyxSavage founder took offense to his politically-charged music video for his song "Famous. She wasn't the only one either — the video and track also contributed to Ye's longtime feud with Taylor Swift. In the video, which featured naked wax figures of high-profile people in bed together, Rih wasn't pleased to see her doppelganger next to conservative politicians like Donald Trump and George Bush. "She'd rather lay next to the devil while drink[ing] boiling hot water in h*** than share sheets with either of those two," a source told HollywoodLife. "She doesn't know what the h*** Kanye was thinking when he decided to throw them in the picture."

A separate HollywoodLife piece also reported that Rih wasn't happy with the way her ex-boyfriend Chris Brown was depicted in the video. "Chris has a much better body than in 'Famous' and [Rihanna] noticed it immediately," another insider said. Brown seemed to agree, because he posted on Instagram (via Grazia Magazine), complaining, "Why I gotta have the plumbers butt/crack showing WAX figure?" However, Rih never publicly took Ye to task for her issues with the video.