In June 2017, the internet went crazy when photos surfaced of Rihanna kissing a mystery man during her vacation in Spain. His identity wasn’t known then, but as the hours passed, People, The Sun, and TMZ reported that RiRi’s boo was Saudi businessman Hassan Jameel. Jameel comes from a very rich family, who owns Abdul Latif Jameel, the organization that owns the right to sell Toyota Motor vehicles in Saudi Arabia and several other Middle Eastern countries.
The two had a private relationship for years before Us Weekly reported on January 17, 2020 that Rihanna and Jameel have allegedly split. A source told the outlet that the pair broke up, although it’s unknown what caused the breakup or who ended the romance.
Here, a few facts about Jameel and his past relationship with RiRi:
1. The two were reported to be dating quietly for a while before their relationship became public. As Jezebel points out, some super fans of Rihanna think they were together for six months before outlets reported on their dating. They believe the two met up in the Maldives, Japan, and maybe even New Year’s Eve.
According to UK tabloid The Sun, a “friend” of the couple said, “she has kept this under wraps, but they have been together officially since January [2017]. This relationship is the real deal….They’ve been spending a lot of time away from prying eyes and are really serious. His family are also extremely wealthy and private. She was coming into the UK on a regular basis to see him.”
2. Jameel is also 31 years old and is rumored to be worth $1.5 billion. Mohammed Jameel is currently the president of Abdul Latif Jameel Co.—a company Jameel will one day inherit. The Jameel family is ranked #12 on Forbes‘ 2016 list of the World’s Richest Arabs, with a speculated net worth of $1.5 billion.
3. Jameel is the deputy president and vice chairman of Abdul Latif Jameel Domestic. Fun fact: He accepted a challenge from Guinness World Records in 2013 to break the world record for the world’s largest Toyota car parade. According to TMZ, that hasn’t happened yet.
4. Jameel’s family owns a soccer team.
5. Jameel may be the reason Naomi Campbell and Rihanna had drama. Campbell and Jameel were rumored to be an item last year when they were photographed getting cozy at the British Summer Time Festival in July.
RiRi and Campbell unfollowed each other on Instagram and on Watch What Happens Live in March, Campbell had this to say when asked about it and whether there’s any feud: “Everything’s fine,” then, “I’m an actress now, Andy.”
6. Jameel, like Rihanna, is also involved in charity work. He is president of his family’s company’s Community Jameel Saudi Arabia, which “invest[s] in training, job creation, and businesses aimed at helping communities transform themselves,” the organization explains on its site. “It’s also why we support and showcase art and artists to inspire and nurture people worldwide.”
7. RiRi and Jameel went on vacation to Ibiza together in June 2017. Daily Mail published lots of photos of their first big trip as a public couple.
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8. Jameel used to be married. According to Harper’s Bazaar Arabia, Jameel was married to Tunisian art curator Lina Lazaar. The couple was married in 2012 at the Paris Opera House and remained together for five years until their 2017 divorce. Lazaar is an art specialist at Sotheby’s London and VP of her father’s organization, Kamel Lazaar Foundation. Jameel is clearly into accomplished women.
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9. Jameel and Rihanna had a couple public dates over their three years together. Jameel accompanied Rihanna at a Grammys after party in 2018. They were shot together at a basketball game for Rihanna’s 2019 birthday. Jameel is next to her in the basketball cap here:
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They had a couple dinner dates that paparazzi photographed, including their wine and cheese night in August 2019.
10. Jameel and Rihanna both met each other’s families. Rihanna was photographed cuddling with Jameel while on vacation with him and his family in the Amalfi Coast in June 2019. Jameel was seen out at dinner with Rihanna’s mother and one of her brothers in August 2019 in Santa Monica, which would be one of the couple’s last public appearances together.
11. Rihanna spoke a little about Jameel publicly. In an Interview magazine story, Rihanna told people to “Google” who she was dating. However, the artist said, “of course I am” when asked if she was in love.
When asked if she was going to get married, Rihanna paused, then said, “Only god knows that, girl. We plan and god laughs, right?”
She also talked about how Jameel led her to prioritize her personal time more in the same interview. She said:
It’s only the last couple years that I started to realize that you need to make time for yourself, because your mental health depends on it. If you’re not happy, you’re not going to be happy even doing things that you love doing. It’d feel like a chore. I never want work to feel like a chore. My career is my purpose, and it should never feel like anything other than a happy place. I’ve made little things a big deal, like going for a walk or going to the grocery store. I got into a new relationship, and it matters to me. It was like, “I need to make time for this.” Just like I nurture my businesses, I need to nurture this as well. I’ll shut things down for two days, three days at a time. On my calendar we now have the infamous “P,” which means personal days. This is a new thing.