Rihanna’s Halftime Show Director on How They Kept Her Pregnancy Secret

Rihanna made history at this year’s Super Bowl halftime show when she became the first pregnant woman to perform at the big game. The high-flying performance also served as a pregnancy reveal and baby bump debut, shocking fans around the world.

ET’s Kevin Frazier spoke with the halftime show director, Hamish Hamilton, about the fireworks-filled extravaganza, and how they kept both the secret of Rihanna’s pregnancy — and Rihanna herself — safe.

The incredible performance began with Rihanna hovering more than 60 feet in their air on a suspended platform above the field at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, where she kicked things off singing “B***h Better Have My Money.”

“For her, I’m sure it was really scary, because, you know, she’s not fond of heights either. So for her, it was, like, super brave,” Hamilton explained. “We practiced it in baby steps. First it was 10 feet, then it was 20, then it was 30.”

Rehearsals for the halftime show were held at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles — where they recently held this year’s GRAMMY Awards — and Hamilton explained how getting the platforms right and the camera rigs set up to capture Rihanna’s performance the way she wanted was “ambitious” and a “real masterpiece,” technically speaking.

“That would be a brave thing to do in, like, a Broadway show, where you’ve got months and months to set it up… [but] this is a Super Bowl. I mean, you’ve got eight minutes to get all that stuff out. Check it, safety check it, make sure it’s cool, deploy it, and then fly her up,” Hamilton said. “It was ridiculously ambitious.”

As for the pregnancy element — and the secrecy surrounding that particular news — Hamilton explained just how cautious Rihanna had been with revealing the information.

“She was very careful about who knew. And we only knew, really, at the very latest stages,” Hamilton said. “Her and her team carefully managed that, and we obviously also then carefully managed that.”

“It’s a very, very personal, joyous moment. So it’s for her to tell the world, you know? So not only were we obviously very mindful of the fact that she was pregnant, but we’re also very mindful of this kind of a show hasn’t been done before either,” he said, adding that the people working on the project all understood the importance of discretion, so no one was too worried about the safety of the secret itself.

“There was a huge amount of respect for the endeavor that we were taking on,” Hamilton recalled. “I think, given the ambition of the idea, the kind of lunacy, almost, in some ways, of the idea, I think anybody who was going to kind of tell the world was like, ‘You know what? Let me keep the secret.'”

While everyone was excited to be working on something so big and impressive, the very scope of the project inherently led to trepidation.

“There were so many times when I thought, ‘This is not going to happen.’ So, so many times,” Hamilton reflected. “You know, the cameras didn’t work. The platforms stopped. [There were] lots of times when the safety was engaged and we had to stop and reassess. “There were never any times when we were putting anybody in danger, but there were a lot of times when we needed to stop, evaluate the safety and then carry on.”

As for how Rihanna felt about the show, Hamilton said that the songstress “felt overjoyed.”

“She felt ecstatic. She felt incredibly, incredibly happy, and incredibly proud. As she should!” Hamilton exclaimed. “She pulled off an absolutely incredible show. She absolutely nailed it…she was brave, and she was bold, and she just, I think, delivered the [best] Super Bowl [show] of all time.”

For more on Rihanna’s groundbreaking Super Bowl LVII halftime show, check out the video below.