Fans devastated after pics of Rihanna ‘at the Met Gala’ turn out to be fake

Rihanna is one of the undisputed icons of the Met Gala, whose looks over the years – including a rhinestone-encrusted papal mitre and an elaborate rose-covered pregnancy gown – will go down in history.

And yet, this year, she had to skip the star-studded event, reportedly thanks to a nasty bout of the flu.

Nevertheless, fans were still hopeful that she’d make a surprise entrance at the last minute, particularly since the 36-year-old mum-of-two has form for being late.

Indeed, Anna Wintour – Vogue’s editor-in-chief and the gala’s co-chair – once admitted that the only person who can get away with tardiness on fashion’s biggest night is… Rihanna.

And, at one point, it seemed as though fans were in luck, when an image of the ‘Umbrella’ singer emerged online, purportedly taken at this year’s red carpet extravaganza.

The photo appeared to show her marking the 2024 theme – “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion” – by sporting a towering, lily-shaped gown adorned with a woodland scene.

The pic racked up more than 4.8 million views on one Twitter/X account alone, as admirers voiced their adulation of the songstress and her latest look.

That was, until it emerged that the snap was nothing but a fake – an AI-generated image.

Inevitably, the disappointment was deep and swift, particularly since we might never know what Rihanna had been planning on wearing before ill health got in the way.

At an event for her brand Fenty Beauty last month, the RnB legend-turned-entrepreneur told Extra that she was going to keep her Met Gala outfit “very simple-ish”.

“It’s gonna come to what my makeup and what my hair is going to do,” she said. “We wanna play with that, but I have no idea what I’m gonna do.”

Rihanna has stunned at the Met Gala in previous years(Getty Images)

She also admitted that becoming a mother had changed her taste in clothes.

“I did so much s**t in my life,” she lamented.

“I had my nipples out, I had my panties out. But now those are the things, I guess, as a mom, as an evolved young lady [...] it’s just things that I just feel like I would never do.

"I’m just like, ‘Oh my god, I really did that? Nips out?’”

All we can do now is keep our fingers crossed for next year.

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