Rihanna feared her father would die from horrible tropical disease

Rihanna's father was rushed to hospital with Dengue fever just days after she visited him in Barbados.

Ronald Fenty, 57, has had a difficult relationship with his daughter but wanted her to know he was seriously ill with the viral disease.

Dengue can trigger internal bleeding and cause brain and liver damage - if the patient survives.

‘It was horrible,' he tells The Sun. ‘I thought I was going to die.'

Ronald had no way of contacting Rihanna, 23 - who was born Robyn Rihanna Fenty - to tell her the news, but luckily one of her friends lent him a phone.

‘I was actually in a hospital ward that Robyn's friend worked in as a doctor,' Ronald tells The Sun.

‘She offered me her BlackBerry to call Robyn. I called her and she was worried - she said: "Daddy, what's wrong with you?'''

Fortunately, Ronald - who divorced Rihanna's mum when she was 14 - recoverd.

The former crack cocaine user still struggles with his demons, but claims he's beaten his habit 'touch wood'.

He got drunk on Rihanna's tour bus in 2008 and she sent him home to the Caribbean, but they've since reconciled.