Rihanna on ‘20/20’: “He Slapped a Girl and He Liked It”

Like the cleaning of a house, Rihanna's press circus never ends! Although last night, her 20/20 segment finally wrapped up. The rest of the world sighed a humongous cloud of relief because this sit-down with Diane Sawyer looked promising. It was a humble, pitch-perfect way to close that part of the pop star's life before she fully immerses herself into her Rated R campaign. Face-to-face with Sawyer, Rihanna showed that she has it in her to make peace with this altercation. And despite being well-timed, in case this tabula rasa misfires, here's a considerably more palatable alternative! Regardless, in her provocative interview, Rihanna kept an admirably cool, level head. She wasn't on a mission to point fingers, assign blame, or ravage the last flecks of meat dangling from the corpse of Chris Brown's career. She simply sussed out the events of that fateful February night, picked apart the psychology leading up to those events, and shined light onto a history of domestic violence in her family.

What’s alarming is how consistently even-tempered Rihanna remains. And moreover, how generously she pities the indelible stain the scandal’s left on Brown’s career. Admirable, all that, especially considering Chris Brown simply can’t shoulder the blame. Instead he continues desperately deflecting it whenever he can; two arguments he’s posited: it’s a private matter and all his haters are just ignorant.

Says Rihanna about the moments following the incident, “And I thought, If i feel this depressed then what is he going through? I had to protect him. The whole world hates him now. He lost me. His fans. His career. I just needed to let him know, ‘Don’t do anything stupid.’” Which would explain why she jetted down to Miami just weeks after the scandal broke. “I went through a host of emotions. It was confusing for me. I was attached by love. I wasn’t thinking about the reality of the situation.” But the catalyst for the break-up ultimately, Rihanna contends, was the fact that other girls would follow her actions, staying with their harmful boyfriends, and if such poor decisions could get them killed.

Following that trip to Miami, Rihanna flew back to Los Angeles. That’s when she broke up with him although he kept begging her to take him back. “I resented him,” she said. “I couldn’t continue to do this.” Her conclusions, then: “Don’t react off of love. Come out of the situation and look at it, third-person, for what it really is. Then make your decision. Because love is so blind.”