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Love was on the brain for this former NFL star, but he fumbled.
Matt Leinart recently opened up about how his date with Rihanna failed due to a cosmetic flaw. The former Arizona Cardinals quarterback shared the humbling experience on his Throwbacks podcast, which he co-hosts with Entourage actor Jerry Ferrara.
In a conversation with Ferrara and show guest Josh Richman, Leinart shared how he asked Rihanna to a date at Teddy's nightclub in L.A. The date was in fact his third attempt to get the singer on a date, but shared that because of the blister on his lip for staying out in the sun too long, he was embarrassed to look the singer in the eye.
Despite feeling uneasy on the date with RiRi, his friends hyped him up to tell him that the blister was no big deal and not to worry about it. While the date ultimately failed anyway, with the singer no longer showing interest in pursuing anything further, he has no regrets, as he was able to meet his wife Josie, whom he later married in 2018. They also share their sons Cannon, 3, and Cayson, 5. The former quarterback also shares his 18-year-old son Cole with his ex-girlfriend Brynn Cameron.
We did NOT fall in love in a hopeless place…
Full episode on @ThrowbacksShow now.👉https://t.co/k5qWwpiPbq#rihanna #datestory #2000s #throwbackspod @jerryferrara pic.twitter.com/uSZfERnkUz
— Matt Leinart (@MattLeinartQB) July 21, 2025
Rihanna Relationship with A$AP Rocky
While Leinhart and Rihanna didn't end up working out, the singer was also able to start a life with longtime friend-turned-lover, A$AP Rocky. The two began dating in late 2020, after being friends for nearly a decade. The couple now share two children, RZA Athelston Mayers (born May 2022) and Riot Rose Mayers (born August 2023). She is also currently pregnant with their third child.
Rihanna previously shared that in 2023 that she loves seeing him as a father.
“I love him differently as a dad. It's a turn on,” she told Page Six at the time.
She mentioned in her Harpers Bazaar interview back in February how Rocky reminds her that “no matter how hard everything is that we’re dealing with in our life, in our careers and as parents, he’s like, ‘Remember when we were friends? Remember when we just used to have fun as friends?’”
The singer continued sharing what she loves about the rapper and that she jokingly gets annoyed that Rocky is the favorite for their boys.
“His pureness. His charm. I’m annoyed because my sons sometimes just live for him more than they live for me,” she says. “And I’m like, ‘Did you know who cooked you? Do you know who pushed you out?’ And they love him, but when I see it, oh, it’s the best.”
The feelings are very mutual as the rapper shared back in 2021 that the singer is the “love of my life.”
“As for what it's like to be in a relationship,” the rapper told GQ during his June/July cover story. “So much better. So much better when you got ‘the One.' She amounts to probably, like, a million of the other ones.”
“I think when you know, you know,” he added at the time. “She's the One.”
