Shes rich and beloved and based on none other than RiRi herself.
But the story, titled Shirley From a Small Place, is hardly a frothy celeb portrait.
At first, fictionalizing the Barbados-born Rihanna forJamaicanintimidated Arthurs.
Credit: Jeff Spicer/FilmMagic; Ballantine Books
I felt so distant from the imagination of a pop star, the author says.
The more research Arthurs did, the more inspired she became.
She was fascinated by an episode ofOprahin which Rihanna gave the TV host a tour of her old hometown.
(Theyd stop and talk to people in the neighborhood like they werent Oprah and Rihanna!)
She learned that Rihanna has stayed best friends with her childhood bestie into adulthood.
She even scanned Rihannas moms Instagram.
All this made it into Shirley, if only implicitly.
But that small place she comes from the human power at home is what she comes back to.
