Good Girl Grown Up

I'm surprisingly impressed with Rihanna. I just watched her interview with Diane Sawyer on 20/20. I missed it Friday night because I have an amazingly active social life with fans and rockstar status....lol! I watched the interview online instead this afternoon.

I think I said "wow" out loud twice. Rihanna is a smart girl. Woman. I wanted to believe that she'd just been well coached... maybe by Oprah. Eventually I was sold. She had much more depth to her than I'd imagined she would. She was so poised. She was eloquent. She seems strong. I felt pangs of guilt. I, like others, believed that she must have provoked Chris Brown. I thought she must have hit him first. I thought she went ghetto-girl crazy on him and he had no choice but to light her up. I don't believe that at all anymore.

Rihanna talked about that night in as much detail as she was comfortable remembering. Apparently there was a text message from Chris' ex. She said she pressed him for answers about the contents of the text. A heated argument ensued, then came the blackout. Diane rattled off the list of injuries from a police report. She read them to Rihanna as if Rihanna wasn't in that car with her lip on the opposite side of Chris' fist. I get it. We're journalists. That's part of Diane's job; to remind viewers of the horrific details and boost ratings. It's still annoying though.

So Rihanna sits back with legs crossed and takes it. She can't be shaken it seems. She admits that she was deeply in love. She admits that she maintained a relationship with Chris, post-beating. She talked about the abuse of her mother at the hands of her father and Chris' mother's abuse at the hands of his stepfather. She spoke about her hope for Chris career and future - without her. Rihanna, with tears in her eyes, says now she's focused on positively influencing other women, young girls in particular. She felt she'd be essentially endorsing domestic violence if she stayed with her abuser.

Rihanna says she was so in love. Deep in love. These days she says "ef love, love is blind". I'm just glad Rihanna's not. Good girl.

-ttyl, toya