Rihanna and ASAP Rocky are the picture of happiness with their two boys, RZA, two, and Riot Rose, one, but the superstar singer has admitted that the couple held back from each other during their early dating days.
The pair, who have been an item since 2019, took "cautious" steps when they first became more than friends, as the Grammy-winning singer revealed back in April to Interview magazine.
"We've known each other for a long time," the 'Umbrella' hitmaker began.
"I've seen him in relationships. He's seen me in relationships. We've seen each other outside of relationships.
"We knew what we're capable of, and the trouble that we could bring to each other's lives. We can make or break each other's hearts. And so, we started dating with a lot of caution."
Rihanna added that, despite feeling cautious, they decided to continue and let the relationship develop naturally.
"I just let whatever was supposed to happen, happen," she added. "It was just, 'This is a flower. It's either going to die or blossom. But I'm going to let it decide itself.'"
ASAP Rocky and Rihanna's romance history
Rihanna and ASAP Rocky – who goes by Rocky to many – first started fuelling relationship rumours way back in 2013 when the pair looked quite cosy in the music video for his song, Fashion Killa, but the pair were just friends at the time.
Fast forward to December 2019, the pair walked the red carpet together at the Fashion Awards in London and caused quite a stir. Rihanna told Interview that it was 2019 when things changed.
Then, in January 2020, news broke that Rihanna had split from her long-term boyfriend Hassan Jameel, and Entertainment Tonight reported that their lives were "too different" to make it work.
But it took until the end of 2020 for Rihanna and Rocky to confirm to the public that they were boyfriend and girlfriend.
The COVID-19 pandemic sped things up for them, according to the singer: "Had it not been for COVID, we would've taken a lot more time to get comfortable with each other, to even know that we were ready."
Rihanna and Rocky as parents
Now, the couple are proud parents of their little boys. Rocky opened up to Apple Music's Zane Lowe in an interview the year RZA was born, explaining how it was like "heaven" every day.
"It's so unexplainable. It's just one of those things. I'm a member of our club now, like the dad club. You see a dad, you see me. I'm playing on, I'm a full dad now," he said.
"Being outside and working and being creative, it drives more energy for you to obviously think and soak things up like a sponge now that I'm a dad because I have a whole other perspective.
"And I can't even explain it, man. You come home to heaven every day. I'm so thankful."
Meanwhile, Rihanna told British Vogue how having RZA and Riot has made the couple even closer.
"We're best friends with a baby. We have to be on the same page, but we've always kind of had that in our relationship.
"Everything changes when you have a baby but I wouldn't say it's done anything but made us closer."