Touchy Topic Torpedoes Rihanna's 'Battleship' Interview

It could conceivably get tough being Rihanna sometimes. Bring up the wrong topic of conversation on the wrong day, and it's probably no gem being the one interviewing her, either.

The Grammy-lauded "Umbrella" and "We Found Love" singer stopped by the Australian morning gab-fest "Sunrise" just trying to talk up her forthcoming board game-to-movie adaptation "Battleship". Judging from how she bristled when asked about her music-to-movies-and-back moves, it might've been simply a bad day from the start.

"I don't see why I can't do both," she said just a tad testily. "If I love both I'll do great as both." Things took a turn for the better - or at least, the more optimistic - when addressed how impactful rumored interest in her to play either the late Whitney Houston in a discussed biopic or a lead in a remake of Houston's "The Bodyguard" could be upon her personally and professionally.

"It would be emotional, of course, because she's been someone that I've looked up to for so long," Rihanna said. "Her music is something that I've been very close to, so I guess it would be fulfilling as well as, um...a lot of pressure."

Then someone decided she'd push her luck with the questions.

The "Sunrise" host then claimed that the interview "upbruptly ends" when she decided she'd ask Rihanna how she felt about perpetual tabloid scrutiny of her personal life, especially the recently renewed speculation about her relationship with Chris Brown, the ex-boyfriend who beat the bejeezus out of her the night before the 2009 Grammys and then acted entitled to hero worship when he was invited to perform twice at the 2012 awards, and rumored links to "Two and a Half Men" star Ashton Kutcher.

"Very frustrating," she said. "Almost as frustrating as being asked about it.

"[People] are interested in a lot of things - a lot of things that don't matter. Or shouldn't."

To her credit, she at least didn't set off a chair-flinging rampage like her ex once did less than a year ago. But tell us: given the nature of how she makes her living, do you think she should have developed a thicker skin toward the ever-intrusive public by now?