Super Bowl Halftime Show Director Reveals How Rihanna Kept Her Pregnancy A Secret
Super Bowl LVII halftime show director, Hamish Hamilton, spoke to ET about how Rihanna kept her pregnancy a secret before the big event.
Rihanna kept her pregnancy tightly under wraps until her high-flying Super Bowl LVII halftime show performance. Following the big game on Sunday night (February 12), halftime show director, Hamish Hamilton, spoke to ET about how Rih was kept safe while performing on platforms.
"For her, I’m sure it was really scary, because, you know, she's not fond of heights either. So for her, it was, like, super brave," Hamilton explained about the show's "B**** Better Have My Money" opener. "We practiced it in baby steps. First it was 10 feet, then it was 20, then it was 30."
Rehersals for the halftime show took place at Los Angeles' Crypto.com Arena, and Hamilton detailed how the platforms and cameras were situated to make the halftime show a "real masterpiece."
"That would be a brave thing to do in, like, a Broadway show, where you've got months and months to set it up... [but] this is a Super Bowl. I mean, you've got eight minutes to get all that stuff out. Check it, safety check it, make sure it's cool, deploy it, and then fly her up," Hamilton said. "It was ridiculously ambitious."
Hamilton also revealed Rih's cautiousness in revealing her pregnancy before the halftime show.
"She was very careful about who knew. And we only knew, really, at the very latest stages," Hamilton said. "Her and her team carefully managed that, and we obviously also then carefully managed that."
He added, "It's a very, very personal, joyous moment. So it's for her to tell the world, you know? So not only were we obviously very mindful of the fact that she was pregnant, but we're also very mindful of this kind of a show hasn't been done before either."
"There was a huge amount of respect for the endeavor that we were taking on," Hamilton continued. "I think, given the ambition of the idea, the kind of lunacy, almost, in some ways, of the idea, I think anybody who was going to kind of tell the world was like, 'You know what? Let me keep the secret.'"