Rihanna admits she was more concerned with Chris Brown following assault than herself
In an upcoming interview with Oprah Winfrey, Rihanna has opened up about being assaulted by then boyfriend Chris Brown in 2009 following a pre-Grammy party, revealing that she was more concerned for him than she was for herself.
The whole world was shocked and disgusted by the star, however while most fans and stars were incredibly sympathetic toward Rihanna, she admits that she was more upset for him than the personal trauma she suffered and felt “protective over him”.
In the interview she opens up about the incident and claims that she was “concerned” for Chris in the aftermath of the scandal because she felt that people were condemning him rather than realising that he needed help for his problems.
She said: ” I just felt that he made that mistake because he needed help. Who’s going to help him? He needed help.”
“Nobody was going to say ‘he needs help’ Everyone’s going to say ‘he’s a monster’ without looking at the source and I was more concerned about him.”
Following the assault many radio stations refused to play Brown’s music and he was banned or uninvited to many events.
Speaking of her ex, Rihanna admits that at the time she felt “protective” over him for the abuse he was suffering in the media and from fans, even putting his welfare ahead of his.
“It was hard for me to even pay attention to my mind and figuring things out because it became a circus and I felt protective,” she explained, “the only person they hate right now is him.”
“It was a weird, confusing space to be in because I was angry, hurt and betrayed.”
Having the episode played out in public, she confessed made it difficult to deal with the drama.
She added: “I lost my best friend. Everything I knew… switched. Switched in a night, and I couldn’t control that. So I had to deal with that and that’s not easy for me to understand or interpret. And it’s not easy to interpret on camera – not with the world watching.”
Brown was convicted of felony assault and making criminal threats in March 2009 and accepted a plea deal of community labour, five years’ formal probation and domestic violence counselling.
After a restraining order ended last year the couple are rumoured to have been seeing each other secretly. This was fuelled in March when they each featured on a remix of their own tracks, ‘Birthday Cake’ and ‘Don’t Stop The Music’. The lewd and cryptic content of the lyrics was seen as confirmation that the romance had restarted though Rihanna has since denied this.
