PREVIEW: 'Oprah's Next Chapter' And The Softer Side Of Rihanna

So Oprah Winfrey took a little trip down Barbados-way, and got a deeper look at Rihanna than expected.

Fret not. As this preview of her up-close "Oprah's Next Chapter" interview with the Grammy-nominated R&B star and actress demonstrates, that's a good thing. Oprah just wasn't expecting something quite so soft.

"I went there with my own ideas about who she was from watching her videos, listening to her music," Oprah tells us, before demonstrating either an inability to separate "person" from "persona," or a slightly disingenuous attempt at coming across humble. "I thought she was going to be kind of a bad-ass, kind of a hard-edged rocker-pop woman.

"Nothing could've been farther from the truth," she added. This just kind of gives the impression that maybe that's all she thinks her audience thinks of her.

Whether or not she actually expected her to show up with a dyed mohawk and decked out in pseudo-bondage gear, it then cuts away to clips of Rihanna milling about a kitchen gleefully, wearing a summery dress and long hair down. In the brief clips that follow, she expresses her apprehension about the "pedestal that comes with fame" and tears up over some topic that was broached.

Given the last year or so, it could be anything. It could be that her feature-film debut, "Battleship," was savaged by critics and bombed, compared with expectations. It could be the way ex-boyfriend Chris Brown's Grammy antics cast their violent previous relationship back into the spotlight. It could even be how Brown and fellow ex-boyfriend Drake got into a night club scuffle over her.

In any case, one thing is certain: Rihanna has had an eventful, tumultuous year so far. And maybe more so than when she hosted "The Oprah Winfrey Show," Oprah is the sought-after interviewer for intimate, guard-down chats. Her interview with Rihanna airs Aug. 19 at 9 p.m. ET on OWN.