Rihanna Breaks Her Silence

The singer tells ABC's Diane Sawyer she feels ashamed about falling for Chris Brown and says she left him as an example to other young women who might be in abusive relationships. (Nov. 5)

I have seen the full video, beyond what I show here, and here are my thoughts.

She is truly embarrassed (which she should not be) about the situation she currently is in and accepts some of the responsibility for being in love with a man who could hurt her- in this clip you can see this by the lack of eye contact with Diane. In the full interview she tends to look down and to her right, which is often where we look when we are accessing the emotional part of our brain. She likely still feels guilty for have some feelings for him. The slight downward tilting of her head could be an expression of shame.

As someone who analyzes violence in couples, the biggest predictor of future violence is previous violence and there is no "mold" for an abuser. Having seen people "take him back" this likely may have had a different outcome had it not been in the public eye. She is doing the right thing!

There is a hot spot where she shakes her head "no" when she is stating she didn't realize how much of an impact she has on these girl's lives- she always realized she was having an impact but now the impact could have consequences (instead of guiding their fashion choices) for their safety.

I had a past post with Chris Brown where he appeared on Larry King.◦

Rihanna Breaks Her Silence