It is so sad to report that Rihanna’s friend, 6 year old Jasmina Anema has lost her battle with Leukemia.  Rihanna campaigned to find a bone marrow donor for her sweet little friend.  She released a statement to US Magazine:

“I am incredibly heartbroken that Jasmina has passed away,” “She was such a brave and special child. She showed me more strength and spirit than many adults I have met. I feel blessed that I was able to have her in my life, and know that through her example she has saved many lives. She was truly an angel on earth”

Monday Jasmina was hospitalized due to fever and shortness of breath and was later diagnosed with pneumonia.  She passed away Wednesday at 10:55 p.m.

Kelly Rowland also grew close to Jasmina and said:

“I was absolutely heartbroken.  ”She was a brave and lovely little girl that captured my heart the moment I met her,” ”My heart goes out to her mother and best buddy, Isabelle and KMS- the organization that introduced me to her. Jasmina is with the angels now, may she rest in peace.”

Our thoughts and prayers go out to her family for this very sad loss.

Photo:  WENN

Rihanna strikes a pose on the red carpet at France’s NRJ Music Awards yesterday.  The award show wasn’t without some drama and major awkwardness as an award announced for the Black Eyed Peas was withdrawn due to an error.  D’ohh!!

They opened the show with I Gotta Feeling and later picked up a trophy for Best International Song.  After that Ke$ha and choreographer Kamel Ouali announced the Black Eyed Peas had also been crowned Best International Group.

But then Ouali returned to the microphone to admit there had been an error – and he had read out the wrong name by mistake, handing the award instead to German rockers Tokio Hotel.  Apparently the audience erupted into boos.  Who can blame them?

The same thing happened last year when Katy Perry was announced as a winner for Best International Song when in fact Rihanna had won.

Perhaps the contents of the envelope are a tad confusing and should be revamped?? Just a suggestion

Rihanna won for Best International Female, Robbie Williams for Best International Male.

Pictures after the break

(more…)

Madonna and Sting pose backstage at last night’s two-hour Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief that George Clooney put together along with Wyclef Jean to raise money for this devastating tragedy.

The show opened with Alicia Keys singing Prelude to a Kiss and saw some very remarkable performances by Madonna, Sting, Mary J. Blige, Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Hudson, Shakira, Bono, Jay-Z, Rihanna, Bruce Springsteen, Beyonce, Coldplay and more.  I’ve included some pictures of some of the performances but if you missed any of them my friend at Busy Bee Blogger has all the videos.  You really should watch the performances if you missed any of them.

Taking donations by phone (pictured):

• Jack Nicholson
• Stephen Spielberg
• Ellen DeGeneres
• Fran Drescher
• Jennifer Aniston
• Gerard Butler
• Jeremy Piven
• Taylor Swift
• Selena Gomez
• Colin Ferrell
• Chris Rock
• Charlize Theron
• Russell Brand

And lots more.  I’ve also included some pictures of celebrities arriving at the event as well as backstage.

If you didn’t donate and wish to, the wonderful people at ONTD have put together a very comprehensive list of the many different organizations you can donate to with website addresses and telephone numbers along with how much money ONTD has raised and how that can help the people of Haiti.

Tons of pictures after the break

(more…)

According to top London hair stylist, Jamie Stevens, Rihanna is setting trends with her hair:

“Rihanna looks amazing – she’s someone we’re seeing really influence hair at the moment,” “You have to have great hair, a good face shape and strong cheekbones to go for her look. It’s strong and striking, and not everyone can go for it.”

Rihanna has changed her hair regularly in the last little while with the recent being a ‘bright blonde Mohican, with the sides of her head totally shaved and the middle section grown long and swept back.’

According to Jamie this is a good thing is reminiscent of Victoria Beckham’s influence:

“We’re used to having people come in the salon asking for the ‘Pob’, the Posh Spice Bob, or something, but now people want the Rihanna. Her style looks great.”

Would you be able to rock a do like RiRis?

Photo:  WENN

BANGShowbiz

Rihanna hit the stage at the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi, UAE where she was reported to have earned mucho money for this performance.  Like many of us, Rihanna has made some New Years’ resolutions:

“I want to stop shopping, being late, start waking up early, stuff like that.”

“I’d like to see my mum and grandparents more. I don’t have a lot of girlfriends, but the one I do have is around me all the time.”

And she hasn’t left her music off the list of resolutions:

“I want to learn the drums and I want to work with Depeche Mode so bad.”

Have you made any resolutions?

Pictures after the break

(more…)

Rihanna tells British talk show host Jonathan Ross that writing her latest album Rated R helped her to deal with the assault from Chris Brown:

“It can happen to anyone, that’s the reason I talked about it. Now I just sing about it, I re-live it,”

She doesn’t regret talking about it and hopes it helped people in abusive relationships:

“It needed to be said because young girls look up to me… people are scared to talk about it,”

She’s enjoying being single and doesn’t know if she will ever be friends with Chris Brown again:

“Maybe in like ten years, you know? But it’s not something that I’m depending on. I’m not depending on his friendship,”

I can’t imagine being ‘friends’ with someone who assaulted you.  Maybe it’s just me?

Here she is leaving Whisky Mist Club in London.

Click on thumbnails to enlarge

Photos:  Tony Clark/www.wenn.com

Rihanna performs live at the  ‘Popstars’ final at Koenigspilsner Arena Oberhausen in Oberhausen, Germany.  Popstars is a reality talent show much like American Idol.

Things aren’t as good for Chris Brown these days as they are for Rihanna. He’s claiming music stores won’t stock his new CD via his Twitter page:

“I’m tired of this s**t. major stores are blackballing my CD. Not stocking the shelves and lying to customers. what the f**k do I gotta do?”

“WTF… yeah I said it and I aint retracting s**t. ”I’m not biting my tongue about s**t else… The industry can kiss my a*s.”

You should always be careful what you wish for because you just might get it!

Click on thumbnails to enlarge

Photos:  www.wenn.com

“I hated school. I’m not trying to discourage anyone from school, I’m just saying, ‘Thank God – he had a plan for me,’ ” Everyone knew who I was at school but I didn’t hang out with many people. I was very selective about friends. Most of the girls were b***hy and I was not with that.”

“I have to get to know someone and if it comes naturally and it’s not forced, then we hang out,” she said. “I’m good at reading people and seeing how fake they are. Most of the time I get it right. The truth always comes out in the end.”

…….Rihanna talking about how she hated school and how it’s still difficult to make friends