Hollywood is full of unlikely friendships. Tiffany Haddish and Barbra Streisand. Jessica Williams and J.K. Rowling. Martha and Snoop. There’s a new celebrity friendship around that we didn’t know we needed. It’s a celebrity friendship as random as any of the above famous people whose names make no sense side by side. It’s also equally –if not even more—amazing. It’s Rihanna and Sarah Paulson.
So far, we only know of this friendship because Sarah Paulson has told anecdotes about Rihanna every time she’s done a late night show since Ocean’s 8 started filming. Sarah Paulson is obsessed with Rihanna. Sarah Paulson is all of us.
The latest Rihanna anecdote was on Late Night with Seth Meyers this week and it was about Rihanna’s text habits. Sarah Paulson got a text from Rihanna and didn’t respond because there was an emoji in the message and Sarah decided that Rihanna would never use an emoji. As someone who also claims to be obsessed with Rihanna, I think this was a woefully inaccurate character assumption. To me, Rihanna seems like an avid emoji sender. I love emojis. Emojis take very little effort. I can tell you how I’m feeling in a split second, without worrying about grammar or misinterpretation. I frequently send Lainey and Duana emoji-laced sentences. They respond back with full, grammatically correct thoughts and feelings. Should we start separating our friends into emojis vs. non-emojis? I am a shameless emoji sender and I think Rihanna is too. She frequently uses them on her Instagram. She’s also a laid-back person who seems like she doesn’t exude effort unless absolutely necessary. She’s totally an emoji person. This seems very obvious to me, Sarah Paulson.
In case you were wondering what kind of friend Rihanna is, even to the friends who don’t know her well enough to know her text style, she’s the kind of friend who sends free Fenty products. I would say that Sarah Paulson is a Golden Globe winning actress who got a congratulatory text from Rihanna so she doesn’t deserve any more blessings bestowed on her but she truly seems to appreciate how fortunate she is. She’s talking to Seth Meyers about Rihanna with a reverence I value.
Lainey wrote about Ocean’s 8 yesterday and noted that Rihanna is the movie’s biggest draw. Of course, the cast stacked but she is the biggest star. She is RIHANNA and we should respect her as such. Sarah Paulson’s name is listed before Rihanna’s on the Ocean’s 8 poster but I don’t think that will stop her from fangirling about their friendship until summer 2018. I am so ready. Next to Black Panther, this is the 2018 press junket I am waiting for.
