Rihanna: 'I Used to Drink as a Teenager -- But Not Like Amy Winehouse'
By Adam, September 15 2008
Rihanna spent her time as a teenager in Barbados getting drunk with her friends -- but insists she never "went over the top" like Amy Winehouse.
"I'd go out and get drunk, but that's what teenage girls do in Barbados," the singer, 20, says of her rebellious phase at the age 14.
"The country's pretty laid-back about the legal age for drinking. But I never went too over the top," she tells Britain's
Live magazine.
"I wasn't exactly in Amy Winehouse mode. I'd seen what alcohol and drugs had done to my dad and I wasn't going to follow in his footsteps. I knew my limits when I was a kid and I still do.
"If I go to a club, I go for the sounds. I go out to have fun, to dance and laugh at people fighting or dressed like whores. I might have a few drinks, but I don’t get tipsy too easily. I don’t ever get to the point where I want to throw up, can't stand up straight or say things I'm likely to regret in the morning."
The
Umbrella hitmaker also discussed the upsides of being famous.
"I've got a house in LA with a swimming pool, a big piano and a coffee table made out of crocodile skin. I love my home, and possibly the best thing about it is that it's just been wired so I can put my iPod into one deck and control it from anywhere in the house, even out at the pool," she said.
"I don't take any of that for granted. I grew up with little or no money. It's made me appreciate everything so much more.
"But it's not all honey and treacle. I've had no more than seven days off in the past 18 months. My schedule is punishing."
And although it's rumored she's dating singer Chris Brown, Rihanna said she gets "lonely sitting around in hotels in cities I don't know. I don't have time to date."
Rihanna: 'I Used to Drink as a Teenager -- But Not Like Amy Winehouse' | Showbiz Spy