She might have spent her twenties rubbing shoulders with the likes of Jay Z, Beyoncé and Kanye West and singing about an umbrella when it's raining 'more than ever', while we were all hitting the books in the library, but it seems Rihanna is finally getting a chance to return to her studies, at Harvard University, no less.
Well, sort of.
Yesterday, the prestigious Ivy League university's newspaper, the Harvard Gazette, announced the Barbados-born beauty had been named the institution's 2017 Humanitarian' of the Year', in honour of her philanthropic work around the world.
S. Allen Counter, the Harvard Foundation's director, explained: 'Rihanna has charitably built a state-of- the-art center for oncology and nuclear medicine to diagnose and treat breast cancer at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Bridgetown, Barbados.'
Next Tuesday, the 29-year-old singer will visit the university to receive the Peter J. Gomes Humanitarian Award – a gong previously bestowed to the likes of Malala Yousafzai and James Earl Jones – during a ceremony on the Cambridge, Massachusetts campus.
'She has also created the Clara and Lionel Foundation Scholarship Program [named for her grandmother and grandfather] for students attending college in the U.S. from Caribbean countries, and supports the Global Partnership for Education and Global Citizen Project, a multiyear campaign that will provide children with access to education in over 60 developing countries, giving priority to girls and those affected by lack of access to education in the world today,' Counter added.
Okay, Rihanna has been seriously busy.
At her annual Diamond Ball Gala benefit, which benefits The Clara Lionel Foundation, in 2015, the 'Pon de Replay' singer said: 'Giving back is important to me and it should be important to everyone.
'If you have the ability to help and lend a hand, no matter how big or small, you should definitely make that your responsibility,' she added.
Rihanna's news comes days after the Puma collaborator celebrated her 29th birthday – a day celebrated by her former beau, Drake, during his concert in Dublin, Ireland.
On the night, the Canadian-born singer told his fans: 'I wanna pay tribute tonight because it's somebody's birthday today—somebody that I've got a lot of love for and a lot of respect for.
'We just gonna do this in Dublin tonight: Instead of singing happy birthday we're going to set it off just like this,' before he played a medley of the pairs hit singles, 'Work', 'Take Care' and 'Too Good'.
Let's be honest, Rihanna's life is pretty great right now.
I mean, just look how happy she was with a hip flask in hand at the recent Grammys.
Congratulations, Rihanna.
Katie O'Malley is the Site Director on ELLE UK. On a daily basis you’ll find Katie managing all digital workflow, editing site, video and newsletter content, liaising with commercial and sales teams on new partnerships and deals (eg Nike, Tiffany & Co., Cartier etc), implementing new digital strategies and compiling in-depth data traffic, SEO and ecomm reports. In addition to appearing on the radio and on TV, as well as interviewing everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Rishi Sunak PM, Katie enjoys writing about lifestyle, culture, wellness, fitness, fashion, and more.
