After months of silence the singer opens up

By Adam Shapiro

Rihanna plans domestic abuse press tour

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 11/04/09 – “Domestic violence is a big secret,” Rihanna said. “The positive thing that has come out of my situation is that people can learn from that. I want to give as much insight as I can to young women, because I feel like I represent a voice that really isn’t heard. Now I can help speak for those women.”

After nine months of silence, pop sensation Rihanna is at last opening up about her seemingly perfect relationship with singer Chris Brown and the shocking event that led his arrest last February.

In an upcoming ABC News interview with Diane Sawyer airing Thursday on “Good Morning America” and Friday on “20/20,” Rihanna acknowledged that Chris Brown was “definitely my first big love” but explained that their relationship was self-destructive. “The more in love we became, the more dangerous we became for each other,” she proclaimed.

The pop star’s public outpouring continued with Glamour Magazine. After being named Glamour’s 2009 Woman of the Year, Rihanna appears in the December issue to discuss her ongoing healing process and the overwhelming media frenzy that immediately followed Brown’s assault on her the night before the Grammy Awards.

“I went to sleep as Rihanna and woke up as Britney Spears. 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?’”

Rihanna found it especially difficult to cope with the fact that the photo displaying her badly bruised face circulated widely on the internet.

was humiliating; that is not a photo you would show to anybody,” she said. “I felt completely taken advantage of. I felt like people were making it into a fun topic on the Internet, and it’s my life.  I was disappointed, especially when I found out the photo was (supposedly leaked by) two women.”

Despite her traumatic ordeal, Rihanna says that the past year has motivated her to grow, become a stronger woman and act as a source of inspiration for women suffering from domestic abuse.