Chris Brown had advice for the former Baltimore Ravens running back who has been the target of worldwide scorn since a graphic video was released Monday showing him punching his then-fiancee Janay Palmer in the face while riding in an Atlantic City elevator.
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“To Ray, or anybody else — because I’m not better than the next man — I can just say I’ve been down that road,” Brown told MTV News‘ Sway Calloway on Thursday. “I deal with situations and I’ve made my mistakes too, but it’s all about how you push forward and how you control yourself.”
The R&B singer was famously arrested on and later convicted of domestic violence charges after brutally beating his then-girlfriend Rihanna before the 2009 Grammy Awards. He was sentenced to five years probation.
As TheWrap previously reported, Brown recently spent several months in jail after admitting to violating the terms of that probation by assaulting a man in front of a Washington, D.C. hotel. The courts actually sentenced the “Don’t Judge Me” singer to a year in jail, but the 234 combined days he had already spent in jail and rehab counted as time served.
“I think it’s all about the choices you make. With me, I deal with a lot of anger issues from my past — not knowing how to express myself verbally and at the same time not knowing how to cope with my emotions and deal with them and understand what they are.”
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“So I think help is great,” Brown added. “I still talk to my therapist twice a week, and it helps me to … if I’m frustrated and I’m dealing with something, to vent and say what I’m going through so I can hear from an actual clinical person, ‘this is how you should react,’ or ‘it’s good to feel this way because feelings, emotions, and energy are supposed to come and go. It’s not supposed to stay there, you’re not supposed to keep it inside, because it’ll bottle up and you’ll become a monster.’”
In addition to having been cut by the Ravens, Rice was suspended indefinitely by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell Monday after the graphic elevator video leaked. However, according to reports by the Associated Press and ESPN’s “Outside the Lines,” the NFL actually received the full Rice elevator assault videotape months ago.
Thursday evening an opening segment featuring Rihanna was pulled from CBS’ “Thursday Night Football” pregame show and the 30 minute segment was instead used to provide reporting and commentary on Rice’s domestic violence controversy.