Rihanna's retro-styled Glamour cover for the mag's November 2013 issue dropped over the weekend. In the feature, the sexpot songstress opened up about the difference between Rihanna – that's the girl we know — and Robyn Fenty, the girl her friends and family know.

RiRi was born Robyn Rihanna Fenty, but has swapped out her first name and uses her middle moniker. Rihanna certainly sounds more exotic and pop star-like. But Robyn is still there, to people who know and love her up close.

"When people call me Robyn, my head just flies around because I feel like that person knows me," the singer said. "But Rihanna, that tends to be people’s own [creation]. Robyn is who I am. Rihanna—that’s an idea of who I am."

That's a deep thought.

RiRi also addressed not being the popular chick while growing up in Barbados due to her lighter skin tone, saying, "I got teased my entire school life. What they were picking on I don’t even understand. It was my skin color [which was lighter than her classmates]. Then when I got older, it was about my breasts."

Even so, RiRi wasn't deterred by the bullying. In fact, it made her resilient and able to put up with the nonsense that goes with the territory that is her job, saying, "But I’m not victimized—I’m grateful. I think those experiences were strategically put together by God for the preparation of being in the music industry. It’s so easy for me to deal with the bulls—t now."

Atta girl!

RiRi is not worried what people think of her, since they don't know the real Robyn. "That’s why it’s important for me to know who I am," she said. "There’s no way for people to know me. All they have are a couple of pictures and some crazy headlines to go off of."

Wow! Another deeply self-aware viewpoint!

RiRi also shared that she had to get back to her fearless nature, since it was MIA for a minute. RiRi revealed, "My mother said something to me a few years ago. 'I’ve seen something in your eyes I’ve never seen before: fear.' She was like, 'No, this is not you.' I just got back to being OK with myself."

This is why Rihanna is able to survive the eats-its-young music biz.

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