The Insider.com

Rihanna is known to be an active tweeter, with more than 18 million fans following her every statement on Twitter. Now, the Battleship star tells The Insider why she's so obsessed with sharing her status with the world.

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"I have to talk to my fans, and I find that it's more of like a text-message relationship with my fans, except the whole world gets to see it," says Rihanna. "These are genuinely people who care and want to know."

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"It doesn't come from a malicious place with my fans," she continues. "With the media outlet there's more of an agenda, there's talk about what's being already spoken about, and my fans just really want to know. I feel [more] comfortable talking to my peers and my friends than people who are being paid to ask."

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So, with so much attention on her every move, is the Grammy winner's skin getting thicker – or is her tolerance getting lower?

"I guess both," replies Rihanna. "My skin has been getting thick ever since I was a kid, and this is just at a different magnitude. But in a way you start tolerating less things -- but that doesn't mean you have a short temper or you blow up. You just don't tolerate it and you move right along."

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In theaters May 18, Battleship unfolds across the seas, in the skies and over land as our planet fights for survival against a superior alien force. Rihanna plays Lt. Raikes, a crewmate and a weapons specialist on the USS John Paul Jones. She faces the enemy alongside John Carter star Taylor Kitsch, Alexander Skarsgård, Brooklyn Decker and Liam Neeson.