HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Rihanna says it's "very liberating" to discuss the assault incident earlier this year in which she was attacked by her ex-boyfriend, Chris Brown.
"It's relieving. Because it was built up for so long, and all these thoughts and emotions have been running through my mind for the past eight months," the 21-year-old singer tells GQ magazine for its January issue. "And now it's like I finally get to let go and move on."
"I don't like talking about it a lot," she adds. "But every time I do, it's better; it's easier each time."
Rihanna, who first discussed the assault last month in a televised interview with Diane Sawyer, said she made the decision to speak out because she "wanted to move on."
"I knew that was the only way I could have done it," she tells the mag. "And I wanted people to move on with me. 'Cause the last big thing they know about me is That Night. And I don't want that to be what people define me as."
Rihanna credits close friends like Jay-Z and the ability to bury herself in new music in getting past the ordeal. Looking back, Rihanna says the biggest lesson she learned is that "love is blind."
"It took a lot of strength to pull out of that relationship," she admits. "To finally just officially cut it off. It was like night and day. It was two different worlds. It was the world I lived for two years, and then having the strength to say, 'I'm gonna step into my own world. Start over.'"
When asked if she thinks she'll ever be friends with Brown again, the "Russian Roulette" singer offers: "Maybe in like ten years, you know? But it's not something that I'm depending on. I'm not depending on his friendship."
As for her future relationships, Rihanna insists that trust won't be an issue.
"I can trust," she says. "I mean, I don't like to stereotype; I believe everybody's an individual. You can't judge someone based on someone else's actions. There are people in the world who will love you and people in the world who will hurt you, and there are people in the world who will do both."
Also see: Rihanna Pictures
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