The Real Reason Why Rihanna And Hassan Jameel Broke Up
On January 17, 2020, Us Weekly reported that Rihanna split from her billionaire Saudi boyfriend, Hassan Jameel, after nearly three years. During that time, the "Umbrella" singer and her businessman beau kept their relationship private, but it seemed like it was destined to last. "It's hard for her to get close to anyone," a source told People back in 2017, "but she seems very happy."
Still, this celeb pairing couldn't keep all the good times out of the public eye. There was Rihanna and Jameel's romantic dinner date in Italy, their Halloween pasta run in Boston while dressed up like Kylo Ren and The Penguin, and the time they enjoyed a Lakers game on the singer's 31st birthday. And who could forget their cruise on a yacht off of Italy's Amalfi Coast?
Unfortunately for him, Jameel has joined the list of Rihanna's exes, which boasts the likes of Drake and Leonardo DiCaprio. So, what went wrong? Let's find some truth in a hopeless place and discover the real reason why Rihanna and Hassan Jameel broke up.
Rihanna explains it all ... kinda
In June 2019, Rihanna chatted with Ocean's 8 co-star Sarah Paulson for Interview magazine and opened up for the first (and only) time about her relationship with Hassan Jameel. Without mentioning him by name, the "Love on the Brain" singer gave insight into where she was on the idea of love and starting a potential family.
When Paulson asked who she was dating at the time, Rihanna simply replied, "Google it." Classic Riri. Was she in love? "Of course I am." Did she want to get married? "Only God knows that, girl. We plan and God laughs, right?" Did she want to have kids? "More than anything in life." Maybe Jameel wasn't on board with that. But c'mon, dude — it's Rihanna.
Perhaps the longtime couple's breakup was due to a personality issue. According to a source cited by Us Weekly that September, Rihanna and Jameel's "personalities mesh well together." That was the shot, but here's the chaser: "They're both so different, but it works for them." Opposites indeed attract when it comes to magnets, but that's usually not the case with people.
Did Rihanna and Hassan Jameel's relationship interfere with her work?
While speaking with Sarah Paulson for Interview magazine, Rihanna talked about the specific changes in her life she'd made in "the last couple years" — particularly taking time for herself. "If you're not happy, you're not going to be happy even doing things that you love doing," the "Work" hitmaker explained. "It'd feel like a chore. I never want work to feel like a chore. My career is my purpose, and it should never feel like anything other than a happy place." Rihanna added, "I got into a new relationship, and it matters to me. It was like, 'I need to make time for this.'"
While her cosmetics brand, Fenty Beauty, quickly became a formidable, game-changing force in the market, Rihanna hasn't released an album since 2016 — and her fans have been growing impatient. Previously confirming a 2019 release date, the singer dropped hints about her new album to Vogue, saying that it's "reggae-inspired or reggae-infused." Well, 2019 came and went with no new Rihanna album ... and Twitter was not having it.
Did Rihanna's relationship with Hassan Jameel start feeling like a chore? Did he come between her and her music?
Rihanna was spotted hanging out with Drake
While we don't know precisely why Rihanna and Hassan Jameel broke up, here's what we do know: whenever Rihanna is single, Drake appears like Candyman. It's inevitable.
Here's what Rihanna told Vogue about her complicated relationship with the Canadian rapper in 2018: "We don't have a friendship now, but we're not enemies either. It is what it is." Well, that didn't necessarily sound good. However, flash forward to October 2019, when Rihanna showed up at Drake's 33rd birthday party. "Rihanna made an appearance and stayed for several hours. She was with two girlfriends and was escorted to Drake's table by security," a source claimed to E! News. "Her and Drake were talking for a while and were smiling and laughing. It seemed like a very pleasant interaction and they looked like they were having fun together as friends."
According to The Shade Room, Drake reportedly pulled the most Drake move by having "McDonald's delivered to the club for Riri and her whole crew." This party led many to believe there might have been a rekindling romance happening between the two — but not so fast. "Rihanna is in such a great place with Hassan right now," another insider told Hollywood Life at the time. "And she's at a point in her life where she doesn't want to hold on to any past grudges or negative feelings she may have had about any of her exes." Sorry, Drake.
Rihanna and A$AP Rocky grew close
Rihanna and A$AP Rocky, seen above on the red carpet of the British Fashion Awards in early December 2019, had been spending quite a bit of time together leading up to her split from Hassan Jameel. According to TMZ, Rihanna joined the rapper at Rolling Loud that October, his comeback show in Sweden the following month, and his Brooklyn 2020 Yams Day benefit concert in January 2020 — a concert that took place just hours after the Rihanna/Jameel breakup news, well, broke.
E! News posted a photo of Rihanna and A$AP Rocky, who famously packed on the PDA in his music video for "Fashion Killa," laughing it up backstage at Yams Day. Was there already a romance brewing? A source cited by Urban Islandz shared, "They've been dating since the start of December they're just good at keeping it under wraps."
Other insiders claimed to have some insight about Rihanna and Jameel's split, alleging, "Believe it or not they argue a lot about it, RiRi is super busy, she hardly even [has] time to go into the studio and he is very busy too running multiple businesses. It's like one of those love stories that you want to root for but deep down you knew it was doomed from the start."