Rihanna Slams Journalist Over 'Toxic Pop Princess' Criticism, Admits 'I'm Not Perfect'
Rihanna recently lashed out at UK journalist, Liz Jones, over an article in which the singer is described as being a "toxic role model" to her fans.
TO READ LIZ JONES' RIHANNA ARTICLE CLICK HERE
For years fans have watched the Bajan pop star, 25, draw both criticism and praise for her "Good Girl Gone Bad" image and in a scathing new piece entitled "Pop's poisonous princess: Glorying in drugs, guns and sleaze, Rihanna's toxic role model for her army of young fans," Jones, who is renowned for sparking controversy, openly criticized the singer's behavior.
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Rihanna immediately responded to Jones' concerns about her carefree image, which includes writing sexually explicit song lyrics and flaunting a skimpy wardrobe among other things.
"LOL!!!! My money got a bad habit of p------ people off!! If you sincerely wanna help little girls more than their own parents do, here's a toxic tip: don't be amateur with your articles, you sound bitter!" Rihanna wrote via social networking site Instagram.
"What's all this about hair and nails and costumes and tattoos?? ....That s--- ain't clever!!! That s--- ain't journalism! That's a sad sloppy menopausal mess!!!" she continued.
Like many critics of Rihanna often do, Jones cited the pop singer's hard partying and marijuana photographs, which she often shares with her millions of Twitter followers, as legitimate cause for concern. Jones, who writes for the Daily Mail UK, criticized the singer for "glorifying drugs" particularly when she has impressionable young fans and this did not sit well with Rihanna who admitted that she is not "perfect."
"Nobody over here acts like they're perfect! I don't pretend that I'm like you, i just live... My life!! And I don't know why y'all still act so surprised by any of it!! "Role Model" is not a position or title that I have ever campaigned for, so chill wit dat!" Rihanna ranted.
"I got my own f----- up s--- to work on, I'll never portray that as perfect, but for right now it's ME!! Call it what ya want!! Toxic was cute, Poisonous Pop Princess had a nice ring to it, just a lil wordy! And P.S. my first American Vogue cover was in 2011...APRIL!!! #ElizabethAnnJones," she added.
In 2009 Rihanna, who made her mark in showbiz in her teens, was assaulted by Grammy award-winning singer, Chris Brown. Within months fans noticed a drastic shift in her image that ultimately transitioned from demure and girl-next-door to shocking and wild.
"I was focusing on getting people to respect me as an artist, making my stamp in the industry. I wasn't 100% or even 75% in control of my image or my sound. I said, 'If you guys keep this perfect image of me, people will never notice me,'" Rihanna previously told Bang Showbiz about making a conscious decision to change her image.
"I kind of blended in. It was safe, the blonde, curly hair. It was a formula. I didn't want to be like all the other artists. I wanted to stand out and the only way I could do that was by taking charge of my image and sound. And it worked. Good Girl Gone Bad was a big turning point for me," she added with reference to her platinum album.
