The tell-all interview finally happened.
Rihanna’s candid interview with Oprah Winfrey last night explored the status of her relationship with Chris Brown, which has been debated for years since their much-publicised break-up.
The popstar admitted to Oprah last night that, despite its violent end, she still loves ex-boyfriend Chris Brown.
The 24-year-old singer told the talk show host the pair are still “very close friends”, adding, “We built a trust again and that’s it. We love each other and we probably always will.”
Talk show hostess, Oprah, travelled to Rihanna’s hometown of Bridgetown to speak to the singer about her life and her childhood in the town. Residents and friends refer to Rihanna as ‘Robyn Fenty’, the popstar’s birth name.
The television special for ‘Oprah: The Next Chapter’ showed Winfrey describe the fall-out from the horrific night after a pre-Grammy party in 2009.
Oprah listens intently to Rihanna’s confession.
After re-counting the events, Rihanna opened up about where the pair’s relationship now stands.
“It was embarrassing, it was humiliating, I lost my best friend,” she said.
But the singer said that the pair have been working on their friendship since the restraining order was dropped against Brown in February 2011. It was reported Brown met Rihanna on board her boat in St Tropez last month.
“We’ve been working on our friendship again and now we’re very close friends,” she said.
“And that’s not anything we’re going to try to change.”
Rihanna admitted it is difficult to meet up with Brown as she believes she still has strong feelings for him.
“It’s awkward because I still love him.
“My stomach drops and I have to maintain this poker face and not let it get to the outer part of me. I have to maintain it and suppress it,” she said.
“When you don’t understand those feelings you can make a lot of mistakes.”
The pair chat during Oprah’s trip to Rihanna’s hometown in Barbados.
Rihanna said the pair are not pursuing anything romantic, noting Brown is in a long-term relationship with model Karrueche Tran, while she is single.
But the singer admitted the happy memories of their relationship will last.
“I think he is the love of my life. He was my first love.
“We were very young and very spontaneous. We were falling in love and going at a really rapid pace. We forgot about ourselves as individuals,” Rihanna explained.
Rihanna’s honest words have caused uproar among domestic violence support charities, who have accused the singer of ‘normalising’ abuse.
The charities claim the star is sending out a dangerous message, which could stop abused women from coming forward.
Vivienne Hayes, chief executive of the Women’s Resource Centre, told The Independent; “Rihanna’s case demonstrates the emotional complexities felt by women locked in abusive relationships.”
Chris Brown has also expressed his feelings about Rihanna speaking out about the incident.
Rihanna and her attorney Donald Etra in court during her request for a restaining order.
Rihanna admitted her father had also been violent towards her mother, Monica Braithwaite, when she was younger and said she was finally able to make peace with the violent end to her romance with Brown by rebuilding her relationship with her father, Ronal Fenty.
“I was so angry at him. I was just angry about a lot of things from my childhood. And I couldn’t separate him as a husband from him as my father.”
Her parents split nearly two years before she left Barbados for the States at 16. The singer admitted her father’s ‘addiction’ tore her family apart..
“I have to move on,” she said. “I have forgiven him. It took me a long time. I was angry for a long time.”
Speaking of Brown she said; “I truly love him, so the main thing for me is that he’s at peace, I care. It actually matters to me that he finds that peace,” she said.
Rihanna knows not everyone agrees with the stance she has taken on her relationship with Brown and added; “I can’t tell people how to feel about it. They’re entitled to feel angry because it wasn’t a good thing that happened. But I have forgiven him.”
