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Photo credit: Annie Leibovitz for Vanity FairA red-haired Rihanna appears on the cover of the new Vanity Fair, which includes a very candid interview during which she discusses her relationship with former boyfriend Chris Brown.
Following his infamous 2009 attack on Rihanna, the singer reveals where she stands with Brown, whom she says was her last real relationship. “I don’t hate him. I will care about him until the day I die. We’re not friends, but it’s not like we’re enemies. We don’t have much of a relationship now,” she tells the mag.
The singer also explained why she decided to rekindle her romance with Brown in 2012, and in 2013 even asked the judge to lift a restraining order against him.
“I was that girl,” she says, “that girl who felt that as much pain as this relationship is. Maybe some people are built stronger than others. Maybe I’m one of those people built to handle s*** like this. Maybe I’m the person who’s almost the guardian angel to this person, to be there when they’re not strong enough, when they’re not understanding the world, when they just need someone to encourage them in a positive way and say the right thing.”
While she thought she could “a hundred percent” change Brown, Rihanna eventually realized, “if you put up with it, maybe you are agreeing that you [deserve] this.”
As for being considered the poster child for domestic abuse, Rihanna says the victim always seems to get punished. “It’s in the past, and I don’t want to say ‘Get over it,’ because it’s a very serious thing that is still relevant,” she says. “But, for me, and anyone who’s been a victim of domestic abuse, nobody wants to even remember it. Nobody even wants to admit it. So to talk about it and say it once, much less 200 times, is like … I have to be punished for it? It didn’t sit well with me.”
Though Rihanna has recently been linked with Travi$ Scott, she revealed she’s not actually dating anyone right now — or even having sex, for that matter.
“That’s why I haven’t been having sex or even really seeing anybody,” she said. “Because I don’t want to wake up the next day feeling guilty. I mean, I get horny, I’m human, I’m a woman, I want to have sex. But what am I going to do — just find the first random cute dude that I think is going to be a great ride for the night and then tomorrow I wake up feeling empty and hollow?”
In addition to addressing her love life, Rihanna has also raised eyebrows with one particular quote from the article concerning N.A.A.C.P. executive Rachel Dolezal who was “outed” as being white after years of pretending to be black.
“I think she was a bit of a hero, because she kind of flipped on society a little bit,” says the singer. “Is it such a horrible thing that she pretended to be black? Black is a great thing, and I think she legit changed people’s perspective a bit and woke people up.”
You can read the full interview with Rihanna now on VanityFair.com.
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