Rihanna Tears Up Recalling Chris Brown Incident

Rihanna is opening up extensively for the first time about the domestic violence incident involving Chris Brown and we've got an exclusive clip from her new interview with Oprah.

In the interview in her native Barbados for Oprah's OWN show Oprah's Next Chapter, the R&B superstar said the incident in February 2009 before the Grammy Awards quickly became a media circus. "I lost my best friend... everything I knew switched -- switched in a night. And I couldn't control that," she told Oprah. "It's not easy to interpret on camera, not with the world watching." 

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Rihanna gets emotional over the abuse, but oddly she felt "protective" in the aftermath of the incident, for which Brown was later charged with assault. "I felt like the only person they hate right now is him. It was a weird, confusing space to be in," she reveals. 

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"Because as angry as I was -- as angry and hurt and betrayed -- I just felt like he made that mistake because he needed help," Rihanna added. "And who's going to help him? Nobody's going to say he needs help, everybody's going to say he's a monster, without looking at the source. And I was more concerned about him."

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For the full interview, tune in Sunday to Oprah's Next Chapter at 9 p.m. on OWN.