Chris Brown has been pictured in a very questionable stance with his hand clenched around an unknown woman’s neck at a party a few days ago.
While Brown and the woman both claim there was nothing aggressive about the incident, and that it was merely ‘horseplay’, some of the photos do appear rather ominous.
The photos are said to have been taken at 9am on Monday (March 26) during an ongoing party in a house Brown was renting during the Ultra Festival in Miami, Florida.
Although in some of the photos, Brown seems aggressive and the woman seems distressed in others it looks like they’re just play-fighting – and they continue to claim it was just ‘horse-playing’.
Brown’s lawyer, Mark Geragos, explained to TMZ:
She’s a friend. It’s obviously playful as she confirmed. Whoever invaded their privacy will be held accountable.
Back in February 2009, Brown and his then girlfriend, Rihanna, had an argument which then escalated into violence leaving Rihanna with visible facial injuries for which she needed hospital treatment.
Brown turned himself to police while his career was put on hold indefinitely. Any advertisements he featured in were suspended, his music wasn’t played on radio, and he withdrew himself entirely from the public eye.
Just two weeks later Brown was charged with felony assault and with making criminal threats. After pleading guilty he accepted a plea deal of five years probation, domestic violence counselling, and community service.
Speaking later that year on Larry King Live, Brown opened up about his actions, saying:
I didn’t know what to think at the time. I was like what, like, because at the time, I just didn’t know honestly what to think.
And I didn’t know if the pictures were altered. I didn’t know if they were real. I didn’t know what. So I was just like, ‘Man, I just felt so disappointed in myself’.
When asked by King if he felt he screwed up, Brown responded:
Every day. I think this is probably — like I said, it’s probably one of the worst moments of my life. And I always wish like I could take it back.
And every day, it’s just something that sticks in my mind. And I’ve said countless times how sorry I am to Rihanna, and I just accepted full responsibility. But it’s just one of those things I wish I could have relived and just handled totally different.
It’s believed the altercation occurred after a woman Brown had previously slept with turned up to a Grammys party in February 2009, causing Rihanna emotional distress.
In a later and more graphic interview, Brown went into more detail explaining how distrust turned to violence:
She starts going off, she throws the phone ‘I hate you!’, whatever, whatever. She starts hitting me, we’re in a little Lamborghini. You know, she’s fighting me, and I’m like ‘Look, I’m telling you the truth, I swear to God, stop it.’ So then she hits me a couple more times. It doesn’t go from translation to ‘Let’s sit down, I’m telling you the truth.’
So now I’m gonna be mean and be evil. Like I remember she tried to kick me, just like her beating shit.
But then I really hit her. With a closed fist. Like I punched her, and it busted her lip. And when I saw it I was in shock, I was ‘Fuck, why did I hit her like that?’
So from there she’s spitting blood in my face, it raised me even more. It’s a real fight in the car, and we driving in the street. I’m like ‘Yo, we tripping, what the fuck, what are we doing?’
If you are trapped in an abusive relationship or know someone who is suffering at the hands of domestic abuse, you are not alone. Please call the anonymous 24-hour National Domestic Violence Freephone Helpline on: 0808 2000 247.
