Rihanna: "I Went to Sleep as Rihanna and Woke Up as Britney Spears"
Credit: Matthias Vriens-McGrath for GLAMOUR
Glamour has named Rihanna one of its Women of the Year -- but 2009 has been anything but breezy for the R&B star.
She breaks her silence to the magazine about her brutal February beating at the hands of her then-boyfriend, singer Chris Brown.
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"It has taught me so much," Rihanna says of the assault and its aftermath. "I went to sleep as Rihanna and woke up as Britney Spears. That was the level of media chaos that happened the next day. It was like, What, there are helicopters circling my house? There are 100 people in my cul-de-sac? What do you mean, I can’t go back home?"
The 21 year-old (born Robyn Rihanna Fenty) points out that she was particularly humiliated by photos of her badly bruised face leaking onto the Internet.
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"That is not a photo you would show to anybody," she says. "I felt completely taken advantage of . . . like people were making it into a fun topic . . . and it's my life. I was disappointed, especially when I found out the photo was [supposedly leaked by] two women."
And although the musician (her new album Rated R debuts this month) praises the unwavering support of friends and family throughout the ordeal, she's also blunt about her state of mind in those dark days.
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"At some point," she admits, "you are there alone. It's a lonely place to be -- no one can understand."
One of her pillars of support? Her mom, who separated from her father when Rihanna was eight. "My mom gave us the tools to survive," she says. "I helped her raise my [youngest] brother, because my mom was working all the time. He's my favorite."
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Now considered a fashion icon, she wants to be another kind of hero: "Domestic violence is a big secret," she says. "My story was broadcast all over the world for people to see, and they have followed every step of my recovery. The positive thing that has come out of my situation is that people can learn from that."
Tell Us What You Think
93I'm sorry about the whole domestic violence situation but I'm not buying your CD because of it. As a singer and performer she's pretty mediocre. I'm not a big fan at all. Never been.
Rihanna is the hottest and her style is unique people need to stop taking up for Chris Brown because neither of them were right in the situation.
i`m from kosovo and i love rihanna -rihanna the best 4 ever(L)(L)(K)(K)
she is doing this to boost her sales
she only came out to speak to help promote her album all that is
she is a very jealous person she had no right to take his cell to read his text message and then slap him about the head she was wrong she would not have want him to read her text study it
she only want to promote her crappy album she sounds like a cat in pain
she only want to promote her crappy album she sounds like a cat in pain
Realist - And she has waited until her album is being released to finally speak up - who has she helped? No one but her and her wallet. Sorry she got beat up but I lost respect after this.
Wonderful representation of self Rihanna and excellent commitment to remain strong in the face of adversity.Despite public rumor and scandal you have held your head high and remained consistent in who you are as a person.I love your new songs and i cannot wait to see them performed.MAKE YOUR MILLIONS MY DEAR!!!
WTF is wrong with you people? Why are you dogging her and picking on her after she was severely beaten, bitten and choked by her boyfriend. Your contempt is misplaced and hateful. Check yourselves because your f'd up.
I was in a domestic violence situation 1 year ago, it was excruciatingly embarrassing and threw me into a spiral of depression. Rihanna's incident occurred shortly after, and her story helped me heal. I thought, hey even celebrities go through this! I felt less like street trash. I feel awful for what she has gone through, especially with the media coverage. I can't imagine... I think those who are judging her need to realize that domestic violence can be very traumatizing and humiliating and it can take a long time to heal emotionally. I wish her all the best.
It sucks she is using this to promote her album, how convenient. How low can you go? Perfect timing gal, shame on you. You are no longer an advocate for young women, we all see what you are doing.
md, rihanna has had plenty of chances to talk about domestic violence before her new album came out! she is totally being selfish using her situation to promote her album. hope young girls don't buy into her thug image.
I THINK RIHANNA IS DOIN A GOOD THING ABOUT TELLIN EVERYBODY ABOUT HER RELATIONSHIP WIT CHRIS B.(KEEP UR HEAD UP RIH RIH)
The reason why she is woman of the year obviously has a lot to do with the magazine trying their best to kiss her tush enough to be granted an interview, nothing more than just politics because lets be real here, Rihanna has done very little to be woman of the year besides be a life size personal punch bag for Chris Brown
it just boggles my mind that she is woman of the year. what has she done to deserve this award; boyfriend beats her up...she goes back...bad publicity...she dumps him for good...woman of the year! lol
Let's stop calling it a comeback!!!She never went anywhere!
Her new so called leak song sounds like crap. She is crap so stop feeding into this and even talking about the pub wh*re!
Stars always want to "talk" when they have a project coming out. I really think the entire situation is so sad. I think that they would have made a great team. I will watch the interview Friday night. People keep talking about her being a role model, but that's the problem. These are IMPERFECT people. They should be noone's role model. They make mistakes and bad decisions all the time.