Rihanna is opening up about why she decided to perform during the Super Bowl LVII halftime show despite turning down the same opportunity in 2019.

The 34-year-old singer said at the time she “just couldn’t be a sellout” by performing amid the controversy with former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick kneeling for the national anthem to protest alleged racial injustice in the United States. 

“I couldn’t be an enabler,” Rihanna said in October 2019. “There’s things within that organization that I do not agree with at all, and I was not about to go and be of service to them in any way.”

But did the performer believe that’s all changed in 2023? 

While Rihanna said “there’s a lot of mending to be done,” she also felt it was “powerful to break down those doors and have representation at such a high, high level.”

“Two Super Bowls back-to-back, you know, representing the urban community, globally. It is powerful. It sends a really strong message,” Rihanna told British Vogue during a new interview. This comment referred to last year’s Super Bowl halftime show, which included performances by Dr. Dre, Kendrick Lamar, Mary J. Blige, Snoop Dogg, and Eminem. 

The “Umbrella” singer said having her first child also played into the decision. 

“Raising a young black man is one of the scariest responsibilities in life. You’re like, ‘What am I leaving my kids to? This is the planet they’re gonna be living on?’ All of those things really start to hit differently,” she told the publication.

Rihanna surprised fans by agreeing to perform after boycotting the event so publicly just a few years ago. Then she shocked them again during the show after taking the stage in a form-hugging outfit that showed off her baby bump. Her representative later confirmed that Rihanna is pregnant.

Later in the interview, the Barbados-born recording artist said her decision to perform was also spurred by becoming a mom. “It’s this knowing that you can do anything,” she told British Vogue.

“What the heck am I thinking? But you’re geeked on a challenge like that because you know what your body just did,” Rihanna continued. “You feel this sense of ‘Nothing is impossible.’” 

The singer previously talked about how she only chose projects that she considered worthy of her time ever since having her son.

“When you make decisions of what you’re going to say yes to, it has to be worth it,” she said during a press conference with Apple Music, as The Daily Wire previously reported. “It’s important for me to do this this year. It’s important for representation. It’s important for my son to see that.”

Actress and singer Selena Gomez revealed the simple three-word phrase that she was not allowed to say while working for Disney, saying that it was all part of the image she was supposed to project as a role model for girls and young women.

Gomez spent her formative years playing teen wizard Alex Russo on the hit Disney sitcom “Wizards of Waverly Place,” which ran from 2007 to 2012, and she said that she put additional pressure on herself to be the best role model she could be while she was working on the show.

The “Only Murders in the Building” star explained during an interview published Wednesday by Vanity Fair that “I wasn’t a wild child by any means, but I was on Disney, so I had to make sure not to say ‘What the hell?’ in front of anyone. It’s stuff that I was also putting on myself to be the best role model I could be.”

Gomez, who recently went public with her personal struggles with bipolar disorder and anxiety, said that she has since come to believe that being a good role model is more about being authentic and truthful than about cultivating and presenting a specific image: “Now I think being the best role model is being honest, even with the ugly and complicated parts of yourself.”

The actress went on to say that she had worked hard, particularly in recent years, to put distance between herself and who she was while she was working for Disney. She explained that it was not about feeling any shame or regret from the time she spent working there, but more about the fact that she wanted to fully embrace who she had become.

“I definitely feel free of it,” she said of her time as a Disney star. “Sometimes I get triggered. It’s not that I’m ashamed of my past, it’s just that I’ve worked so hard to find my own way. I don’t want to be who I was. I want to be who I am.”

Gomez currently stars alongside comedic legends — and real-life close friends — Steve Martin and Martin Short in Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building,” and she said that the two have become like her “grandpas.”

“I really love them. I don’t like calling them my grandpas, but they kind of are. They’ll tell me the same jokes and I laugh every time,” she said. “What’s funny is Marty will text me, but Steve will not. He has my email, but he won’t send me the email. He will send it to [my assistant]. I think he wants to be polite. It’s very endearing, but he makes it a whole thing.”

Disclosure: The Daily Wire has announced plans for kids entertainment content.