Rihanna dubbed the new Princess Diana

London: A leading feminist writer has called Rihanna the new Princess Diana as she uses every opportunity to convey “allure, defiance or revenge.”

In a highly controversial article, Camille Paglia, an American author and lecturer, argues that the messages are drawn from the pair’s turbulent romantic life, then targets their respective partners Prince Charles and Chris Brown, the Daily Mail reported. Writing in The Sunday Times magazine, she added that the pair were victims of a “festering romantic triangle and had transformed themselves from sensitive, wounded, but appealingly bubbly and good-natured provincial girls” into living sculptures for the lens. Paglia said that not since Diana rocketed from a shy, plump kindergarten aide to a lean, mean fashion machine has there been such a ravishingly seductive flirtation with the world press. Paglia compared an iconic “stage-managed” image of a lonely Diana at the Taj Mahal after the breakdown of her marriage with Charles with a shot of Rihanna on her balcony in Barbados, in turmoil over her relationship with Chris Brown. She also drew parallels with the childhoods of the two women as both emerged from broken homes. Rihanna was raised in a bungalow in Barbados, and saw her father battle a crack cocaine addiction and abuse her mother while Diana Frances Spencer’s parents divorced when she was six. She concludes that while Diana, “rebuffed” but eventually accepted her exile, Rihanna, in the “classic syndrome of the battered woman, still pities and hopes to change and save her abuser.” The young singer was given her big break in 2003 when she was introduced to music producer Evan Rogers, who was on holiday in Barbados at the time. After hearing her sing, the producer invited her to New York to record a demo. Soon she was signed to the label of hip hop artist Jay Z and shot to fame. Lady Diana experienced a similarly rapid rise to fame - from one of her first tastes of press attention as she innocently posed aged 20 outside Young England Kindergarten in Pimlico, to the many photocalls - staged and otherwise - which followed in the next 17 years of her life. ANI