Rihanna Discusses “Controlling” Chris Brown In ‘W’ Interview

Becky Bain | January 15, 2010 12:05 pm

We already knew the photos of Rihanna in this month’s W magazine were stunning (and an eensy bit more demure than her photospread in GQ), but the revelations in her interview were eye-popping as well. The “Hard” singer, whose Rated R album was certified platinum this week, has obviously been reflecting quite a bit on whether she should’ve recognized that she was in an abusive relationship before it all spilled into public view. But she sure isn’t holding back now.

After spending most of 2009 silent, Rihanna has grown increasingly comfortable opening up about the ups and downs of life with Chris Brown. In her 20/20 interview with Diane Sawyer she only hinted that their relationship had suffered from ongoing troubles before their fateful pre-Grammy run-in, saying, “The more in love we became, the more dangerous we became for each other, equally as dangerous.” She gets a bit more specific while speaking to W:

“There were control issues, insecurity. When people are insecure they become very controlling and they can get very aggressive and in turn abusive. It doesn’t have to be physical. Like they would say bad stuff to you to make you feel lesser than them just so they would have control in the relationship. It takes a big toll on your emotions and on your everyday life. It changes you.”

Rihanna explains why she is finally opening up about the assault, and says that it has nothing to do with trashing her ex’s reputation (he’s taking care of that himself, and handily):

“At first, I completely shut down. But now I feel like this happened to me so I could be a voice for young girls who are going through what I went through and don’t know how to talk about it. It’s not about Chris, about hurting him or sabotaging his career. I don’t care about that part of it.”

Well, apparently not that many people are concerned with Chris’ career either, since Graffiti (which currently sits at #43 on the Billboard 200) turned out not to be the giant hit he was looking for to secure a comeback in the public eye.

And as for the Tiger Woods sketch on Saturday Night Live (which aired on the same episode she guested on) that seemed to condone violence in relationships? “It wasn’t offensive to me in any way,” says Rihanna. So, chill, people.