Chris Brown admits: Rihanna assault was his 'biggest mistake'

Chris Brown considers the night he brutalized his girlfriend Rihanna "the biggest mistake" of his life. Acknowledging his actions that left Rihanna's face bloodied and bruised the night before the 2009 Grammy Awards, the 23-year-old opened up about the couple's rekindled romance.
"Sometimes you row, you fight, with the one you love and things get said, stuff spirals," he told the Mirror at Elton John's Academy Awards party on Sunday. "That night was the deepest regret of my life, the biggest mistake. But she loves me — what can I say? I'm forgiven ... but, yes, I worked hard for it."

Aside from the apology, the Ministry was more shocked by the fact that Brown used the very British term "row" to describe the fight — but when contacted by The Times, a Brown rep verified the comments.

Brown was sentenced to five years' probation after pleading guilty to a felony count of assault because of his actions. Despite getting a lot of flack for getting back together, the provocative twosome has been appearing together again and again, indicating their spat is a relic of a past era.

Rihanna even sat in the front row when she appeared at a progress report hearing with him in Los Angeles court earlier this month. The "Stay" singer accompanied her Grammy-nominated beau to the Grammy Awards a few weeks ago, where they cozily sat together and gave the impression that they'd moved on from the infamous event. They even made a getaway to Hawaii last week to celebrate her 25th birthday.

But just because they've reached forgiveness doesn't mean onlookers have.

When introducing Quentin Tarantino's film "Django Unchained," Oscar host Seth MacFarlanedescribed the film this way: "This is the story of a man fighting to get back his woman, who's been subjected to unthinkable violence. Or, as Chris Brown and Rihanna call it, a date movie.”

But Brown was taking the critiques in stride.

"People attack me and criticize me, it happens all the time," he said. "But they don't know me, and they don't know us. It doesn't bother me any more. Other people can judge us but they don't know anything."

Cue their 2012 musical collaboration, "Nobody's Business," a song that seemingly flaunts their revived relationship status and completely disregards public opinion. That is, unless it's favorable.

"I've learned a lot since that night and I've grown up," Brown added. "I was very young and I took a lot of stuff, fame, for granted. I didn't understand it. The support from those who do know me and the fans, who are incredible, got me through."

As for Rihanna's take on things, the "Diamonds" singer believes Brown has changed and fervently took his side on such matters.

"For a long time he was really angry, and he felt like he couldn't get away from it, no matter what he did," Rihanna recently told Rolling Stone. "But there's so many reasons why I ever reconsidered having him in my life. He's not the monster everybody thinks. He's a good person. He has a fantastic heart. He's giving and loving. And he's fun to be around. That's what I love about him -- he always makes me laugh. All I want to do is laugh, really -- and I do that with him."

She doesn't want people to consider her "weak" but does want people to know that they don't have those violent arguments anymore.

She adds: "Of course everybody has their opinion about him, because of what he's done. That will always be there. But he made a mistake, and he's paid his dues. He's paid so much. And I know that's not a place he would ever want to go back to. And sometimes people need support and encouragement, instead of ridicule and criticism and bashing."

As for any potential recidivism?

"I don't have to take it. If he gives me that again, here's what I give him: nothing. I just walk away. He doesn't have the luxury of [messing] up again. That's just not an option. I can't say that nothing else will go wrong. But I'm pretty solid in knowing that's he disgusted by that. And I wouldn't have gone this far if I ever thought that was a possibility."

Case closed. For now...