If there is anything good that can become of the abuse incident that transpired between Chris Brown and Rihanna last year before the Grammies, she says that we can learn from her mistakes. Though no victim can ever be blamed for being a victim, she does admit that she saw a few warning signs during their relationship that may have shed some light on the problems that Chris Brown was struggling with that led him to the abusive situation. Rihanna has revealed ex-boyfriend Chris Brown had ”control and insecurity issues” when they were dating, and she even claims she began to spot warning signs before she was attacked by Chris Brown. As we know, the ‘Russian Roulette’ singer was left battered and bruised by her then-boyfriend Chris Brown last February when he assaulted her in his car and in hindsight she could see the situation developing. And those were terms that she specifically used:

“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 also revealed she was emotionally drained when she recorded latest album ‘Rated R’ due to the attack, subsequent break-up and intense attention. The 21-year-old pop star added in an interview with W magazine:

“When I was making this album, every day I was in a different mood. Sometimes I was p***ed off, sometimes I was miserable, and every song brings out a different story. It’s still hard to listen to certain songs. Certain ones I couldn’t even record – I’d keep pushing them back. When the label finally said we had 12 hours to turn in the album, I was like, Okay, I have to record the last song. I just drank some red wine, dimmed the lights, got in the booth and sang it.”

Chris, 20, was found guilty of the assault and ordered to carry out 80 hours of community labor, 12 months of domestic violence counselling and five years probation. While she, and the rest of us, can take comfort in the fact that he’s not getting away with it, we can also learn from this. Though Rihanna can never EVER be blamed for not getting out of this sooner, she does teach us some important information in terms of knowing characteristics of an abuser that can maybe even help some women out there get out of similar situations. Either way, she’s a hero, and we applaud her for being as forthright as she has been about it, as this is not an easy thing to do, and something not every victim feels comfortable doing. Way to go Rihanna, keep rocking it, and we keep loving you.

Photograph: PacificCoastNews.com

Ah yes, the man that just puts a bad taste in your mouth. Here is Chris Brown exiting Kitchen 24 at 4 AM the other night after reportedly dining with six women. What is more surprising here? That he still looks like a jerk despite his pleas of change, or that there are six women on the planet that would still have dinner with him? And putting food and Chris Brown in the same conversation just doesn’t do me any favors, and I don’t think I am alone here. Anytime there is any conversation about a man hitting a woman, my stomach turns. And Chris Brown creates a reaction in my stomach akin to the Dallas Cowgirls halftime show. But here he is ever the ladies man, but yet he has to know what kind of reaction he puts on the rest of us. Of course he does which is why he STILL can’t get any fame on his own, and still insists on using Rihanna to self promote. Recently, during the wee hours of the morning, singer Chris Brown took to Twitter and posted a YouTube link to a photo montage of himself and Rihanna during happier times.

“I’m sorry y’all. Just had to post it,” was the accompanying text on the tweet, and the post immediately following said, “For the fellas: showing emotion doesn’t make u weak … being honest makes you strong.”

This from the man that beat a woman and practically left her for dead, and thought he was being quite the big strong man at the time. Yeah, I just gotta hunch that aspiring to Chris Brown’s message for being strong just isn’t something I’d recommend putting on the to do list for anyone. But from a legal standpoint? Sending tweets about Rihanna and what happened between them on Feb. 8 doesn’t break any laws (Brown’s stay-away order is still in place; his attorney Mark Geragos didn’t respond to requests for comment on Brown’s Twitter feed). But there’s Awomen for recreation. And all the while he is saying he isn’t using her for promotion, we get his very own follow up with messages about his “I Can Transform Ya” video premiere on MTV planned for Tuesday, and news of his official album date. That tweet specifically included the directive, “Now blog about this … LOL.” So Chris: here’s some blogging about it. Now, how about promoting your work without Rihanna’s help? Or how about not hitting women? Or how about not asking us to make you a hero because you were honest about hitting a woman? How about blogging about that?

Photo: Greg Tidwell, PacificCoastNews.com

Guess Oprah wasn’t given the manual on how to deal with those with violent tantrum issues, as she seemed to tick Chris Brown off recently. Or guess Chris forgot that it wasn’t his show and that Oprah could do whatever the heck she wants. Frankly, Chris Brown expected a little more from Oprah than to do a show about how much of a ladybeater he is. Silly him. Sure, there was that Oprah Winfrey about domestic abuse, inspired by the asshat antics of Chris Brown against Rihanna. But Chris thinks there should have been another show. To balance things out. One that was “more helpful.” To him. You know what he means? Neither do I.

“I commend Oprah on being like, ‘This is a problem,’ but it was a slap in my face,” he told People, using an unfortunate metaphor. “I did a lot of stuff for her, like going to Africa and performing for her school. She could have been more helpful, like, ‘Okay, I’m going to help both of these people out.’”

Uh, that mutual back scratch party might fly in some environments, like, say, prison. But as far as I know, Oprah doesn’t make deals. She’s Oprah. She says, “make this man president” or “get this KFC meal for free” and it just happens.

Oprah, of course, has released an articulate message essentially telling Chris to get effed.

“Oprah is very appreciative that Chris Brown performed at her school but she takes domestic abuse very seriously. She hopes he gets the counselling he needs.”

The entire world would like to second that. In the same interview, Chris’s mom Joyce Hawkins reveals just how tightly she’d bonded with her son’s girlfriend. “She’s like a daughter,” Joyce says, on the heels of her comments to Larry King that Rihanna would call her “mom.” For example, Rihanna, Chris and Joyce spent two Christmases together. TWO! The three of them will be apart for this year’s Christmas thanks to a little Grinch called a restraining order. Do you think anyone would notice if Rihanna quietly stole Chris’s mom from him? I just think that would be best for everyone. Everyone except Chris. And who cares about him anyway? He can spend Christmas with Bow Wow.

Photo Source: Greg Tidwell, PacificCoastNews.com

Chris Brown is seen here in a suit that is too expensive for the average man, but suitable enough for him to arrive in court to hear his sentencing for assaulting his then girlfriend Rihanna. And it sounds like the day has come that we’ve all been waiting for, though by all looks and accounts, many may have been disappointed with the results of his sentencing hearing. Yes, we were all hoping he’d get to exchange that suit for a coverall of sorts, and it doesn’t look like that is going to happen. A judge on Tuesday sentenced Chris Brown to five years’ probation, six months’ community labour for the beating of Rihanna and ordered the R&B singer to stay away from his former girlfriend for the next five years. Not the best sentence for those seeking justice for Rihanna, but at least he’s forced to leave her alone for a little bit. Because we all know how men with anger management problems are REALLY good at staying away from women that tried to ruin their careers. Even worse, Gibbons said Brown’s charge could eventually be reduced to a misdemeanour if he completes his sentence. And she did a pretty good job, as this will definitely stain his career for years to come, regardless of what the charges get reduced to.

As we all know, these charges stem from an attack the night before the Grammy Awards. The attack occurred in Los Angeles’ Hancock Park neighbourhood as Brown drove a rented sports car. A Los Angeles police detective described a brutal attack in a search warrant affidavit filed in the case, stating Brown hit, choked and bit Rihanna and tried at one point to push her from the car. Brown’s career suffered after his arrest, with sponsors dropping him and radio stations refusing to play his music. Both he and Rihanna had to cancel several high-profile appearances, including planned performances at the Grammy Awards the day after the attack. In a probation report released after the sentencing, Brown is quoted as saying he was “depressed” since the attack and that he “‘does not want to carry on that cycle.”‘ Poor baby. The report included letters of support for Brown from RCA/Jive Label Group Chairman Barry Weiss as well as an entertainment lawyer and a pastor. At this point, we can only hope that all parties move on with their lives, as it seems Rihanna’s career has never been better, and that is the biggest revenge of all. And we will hope and pray that Brown will follow his orders and leave her alone. As well as all of the rest of American women. Because you have to know, getting a date for him right now is probably more than a little tricky. And that in itself is fun to watch, seeing him suffer is making women smile all over America. As it should.

Photo: Louise Barnsley, PacificCoastNews.com

Well, they’re staying in the same hotel, so use your imagination. Which means it looks like Chris Brown is going to have plenty of occasions to wear his diamond “Oops” pendant. Both Chris and his ex-girlfriend Rihanna checked into New York’s Trump Tower hotel separately on Friday night. On the other hand, the restraining order written into his plea agreement for assault against Rihanna requires him to stay 50 yards away, so if he’s overcome with the desire to slap someone, he’s gonna have to find another target. Chris won’t even be formally sentenced until August 5, but unfortunately for the poor prisoner who’s singing “Somewhere Out There” and holding onto hope that someday he will make Chris Brown his prison wife, no one saw Chris breaking his probation Friday night. Chris went to a movie with friends, and Rihanna left two hours later to go out for fancy dinner at Philippe with an entourage of at least seven.

Chris checked out of Trump Tower on Saturday, and according to a friend, it was because Rihanna had checked in. So it was all one big crazy coincidence, much like every episode of Three’s Company that you’ve ever seen. But despite any scripted apologies you may have seen on YouTube this week, Chris hasn’t acted that apologetically over this whole career-ruining incident, aside from that time he looked deep inside himself and went Jet Skiing. And since Chris has already gotten away with pounding Rihanna in the face like a superpsychopath this year, feel free to go ahead and assume he was stalking.

Rihanna, meanwhile, has been linked to yet another new man. She brought blonde pin-up Mr. Hudson to the premiere of Inglourius Basterds in London, England, on Tuesday, reports the London Mirror. Mr. Hudson sings on Kanye West’s “Paranoid;” Rihanna is in the video. Their date sounds pretty PG, although Rihanna did lead Mr. Hudson by the hand to meet Quentin Tarantino. Quentin then went on to bore their ears off with advice for Rihanna about breaking into movies. Rihanna in the movies? Thanks a lot, Quentin. Maybe he should be the one with the Oops necklace. What’s new with Rihanna and Chris Brown? Not much it seems.

Photo: Focus Pictures, PacificCoastNews.com

Many of us have been waiting for a very long time for Rihanna to see some justice after the alleged domestic attack on her by Chris Brown. We know that since the incident, Chris has gone to preliminary hearings on charges of violence against Rihanna, we haven’t learned too much about what is in store. Rihanna of course was the primary witness in the case, and we do know that she did in fact testify. Her testimony was to be used as evidence against Chris Brown, but we were warned that if her testimony wasn’t “enough”, all charges may be dropped against him. Sounds like she must have told a convincing story, as all of a sudden, Chris is getting all nicey nice about the situation and has even written a letter of apology to her. He wrote her a letter, and then turned it into a video on YouTube. I guess his fate was not looking so good, because one can’t help but wonder, why wait months and months to apologize for something you know you are guilty of….especially when you have been hiding like a coward and pleading not guilty all the way through. But Chris has some explanations for that, as noted in his letter, and though it is a nice gesture, and something Rihanna certainly deserves, it sounds like a whole lot of back pedaling to me. More of a “I need to do this so I don’t go to jail” letter, rather than an actual apology:

Hi, I’m Chris Brown. Since February my attorney has advised me not to speak out, even though ever since the incident, I wanted to publicly express my deepest regret and accept full responsibility. Although I will do some interviews and answer some questions in the future, I felt it was time that you heard directly from me that I am sorry. I have tried to live my life in a way which that could make those around me, proud of me and until recently, I think I was doing a pretty good job.

I wish I had the chance to live those few moments again. But unfortunately I can’t. I cannot go into what happened and most importantly, I’m not gonna sit here and make any excuses. I take great pride in me being able to exercise self control and what I did was inexcusable. I am very sad and very ashamed of what I’ve done. My mother and my spiritual teachers have taught me way better than that. I have told Rihanna countless times and I’m telling you today that I’m truly, truly sorry and that I wasn’t able to handle the situation both differently and better.

I recognize that I’ve truly been blessed. I’ve been blessed with a wonderful family, wonderful friends and fans. God has been generous in giving me the ability, which has brought me fame and fortune. I have done a lot of soul searching over the past several months. I’ve talked with my minister and my mother and I’ve spent a lot of time trying to understand what happened and why. I have let a lot of people down and I realize that. And no one is more disappointed in me than I am.

As many of you know, I grew up in a home where there was domestic violence. And I saw first-hand what uncontrolled rage can do. I’ve sought and continue to seek help to ensure that what occurred in February can never happen again.

And as I sit here today, I can tell you that I will do everything in my power to make sure that it never happens again. And I promise that. What I did was unacceptable, one hundred percent. I can only ask and pray that you forgive me please. I hope that others learn from my mistake. I intend to live my life so that I’m truly worthy of the term role model. Thank you.

Considering his last video statement touched on such vital issues as his upcoming album and “the haters,” this is definitely a more appropriate attitude. No matter what was going on inside Chris Brown’s head for the past five months (and based on his behaviour, I think it was probably “bowling… bowling… bowling… bowling…”), he had to do this for his reputation. If he’s sincere too, that would be an exciting bonus. That’s something we’ll get a better sense of over the course of these interviews he’s going to do. Hopefully he talks about how sick his behaviour was, and doesn’t just play Horse with Ellen.

Photo: Anthony, PacificCoastNews.com