Rihanna Says She Doesn’t Have Herpes

Following media rumors claiming that she suffers from venereal disease herpes, singer Rihanna is setting the record straight. In a revealing interview with GQ Magazine, in which she appears topless on the cover, the 21-year-old proved that no topic is off limits. "It's a f---ing scar on my lip. That's there every day of my life," she said of the blemish that started the STD rumor.

Rihanna revealed that she was aware of the rumor but was sure that people would write it off as such. "At first I was like, 'Are you serious?' First, I thought people were gonna definitely know that that's not ... But when I read it, and I see that people just buy into that ... Like, the minute they see it, it forms something in their head."

Earlier this month former reality television star Tila Tequila fueled the "Herpes fire" ranting on her Twitter page that the pop star did in fact have the virus. "A very close source of mine, who works in the same legal camp as Rihanna, has told me that the reason why Rihanna wasn't speaking out about the Chris Brown incident is because there was a Catch-22 in it. Rihanna has herpes, and ... well ... I don't wanna' put anyone else on blast, but Rihanna has herpes and gave someone else herpes that she had slept with." Tila's statements were in response to an interview that Rihanna did with a Los Angeles radio disc jockey where she called Tila out. "I don't like when people talk about me and don't know me, and don't know what they're sayin' and sound stupid," she said of Tila.

In promotion of her latest album 'Rated R,' the Bajan beauty has been breaking her silence left and right. In the wake of the domestic altercation with former boyfriend Chris Brown, Rihanna went into seclusion using her music to help her get through the ordeal and move on with her career. Her racy photos in GQ have been causing a stir as the star appears scantily clad in several pictures, a move that didn't go over too well with her labelhead L.A. Reid who apparently told her to "put some f---ing clothes" on during the photoshoot. Despite being one of the most sought-after musicians in the entertainment industry the singer says she is misunderstood. "I just think people straight up don't know who I am; they just know what I look like, they know the idea of me. But, they'll learn more this time, because now I let my guard down, and I'm more comfortable just being myself. That's exactly what I want to be. And even on the album, you definitely get a gist of my personality."