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Nearly a month after Rihanna’s father Ronald Fenty died at 70, his cause of death was released in his death certificate.
By Olivia Evans Jun 26, 2025 8:47 PM | Updated 1 minute ago
Rihanna's Dad Ronald Fenty Dead at 70
More details have come to light concerning the death of Rihanna’s dad.
Ronald Fenty—who shared the “Diamonds” singer with ex Monica Braithwaite—died of acute respiratory failure combined with aspiration pneumonia and metastatic pancreatic cancer on May 30, according to a death certificate obtained by TMZ June 26.
Acute renal failure and acute tubular necrosis (also known as kidney damage) were also possible contributing factors in the 70-year-old’s death, per the document.
In addition to Rihanna, Ronald was dad to his and Monica’s son Rorrey Fenty, 35, as well as kids Samantha Fenty, Kandy Fenty and Jamie Fenty from past relationships.
Throughout her career, Rihanna—mom to RZA, 3, and Riot, 22 months as well as a third baby on the way with A$AP Rocky—has spoken about how her parents’ relationship ended in 2002 because of her father’s struggles with addiction. The schism Ronald caused took many years to repair, according to the Grammy winner.
“I was so angry at him,” Rihanna tearfully admitted during a 2012 interview with Oprah Winfrey. “I was just angry about a lot of things from my childhood and I couldn't separate him as a husband from him as a father."
Still, Rihanna called Ronald “probably one of the best fathers in the world” at the time. As she put it, “As awful as he was to my mom at times, it didn't compare to how great he was as a father.”
“And I had to come to terms with that,” Rihanna shared, sharing that she and Ronald had “repaired” their fractured relationship. “And I was able to close that gap with him.”
SplashNews.com
However, Rihanna and her dad continued to face ups and downs in recent years. In 2019, Rihanna sued Ronald for false advertising, false designation of origin and invasion of privacy—false light publicity after he and his business partner “egregiously and fraudulently misrepresented to third parties” that their Fenty Entertainment was affiliated with the “Love on the Brain” singer, per BBC. She ultimately filed to dismiss the case in 2021.
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