Rihanna: Chris Brown beat me 'like he had nothing to lose'

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Rihanna cautions abuse victims

Rihanna said Thursday that she regrets going back to ex-boyfriend Chris Brown after he left her bruised and battered during a February assault, warning other women facing domestic violence not to let themselves become blinded by love.

"It's completely normal to go back. You start lying to yourself," the 21-year-old singer said on "Good Morning America" in her first TV interview following the beating. "I'll say that to any young girl who is going through domestic violence: 'Don't react off of love.'"

Brown, 20, was arrested Feb. 8, hours after he was accused of beating Rihanna after the couple attended a pre-Grammy Awards party. He later pleaded guilty to felony assault, and a judge ordered Brown and Rihanna to stay away from each other.

Brown gets probation for beating

A judge on Tuesday sentenced Chris Brown to five years' probation and six months' community labor for the beating of Rihanna -- and ordered the R&B singer to stay away from his former girlfriend for the next five years.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Patricia Schnegg told Brown that he could be sent to prison if he violated any terms of his sentence, including an order to stay 100 yards away from Rihanna except at music industry events.

A probation report prepared for Tuesday's sentencing describes two previous violent incidents. The first happened about three months before the February beating while the couple was traveling in Europe; Rihanna slapped Brown during an argument, and he shoved her into a wall, the report said. In the second instance, the report said Brown broke the front and passenger side windows on a Range Rover they were driving in Barbados, Rihanna's home country. Neither incident was reported.

Chris Brown pleads guilty

Chris Brown pleaded guilty Monday to one count of felony assault on pop star Rihanna .

Brown entered his plea before a preliminary hearing was scheduled to start in Los Angeles. Rihanna had been on standby to testify.

Brown will be sentenced on Aug. 5, but the terms of the plea deal call for him to serve five years of formal probation and six months of community service. Brown will be able to complete his probation in his home state of Virginia; he will have to do either graffiti removal or roadside cleanup for his service.

Songz's songs say he's 'Ready'

A lot of male celebrities are checking out Rihanna, and so is Trey Songz - but not like that.

The R&B crooner finds inspiration in Rihanna's meteoric rise. Her 2007 smash "Umbrella" established her apart from the typical singers on the scene, and Songz thinks he's poised for that same breakthrough moment with his latest CD, "Ready."

"Somebody else could have sang that song but it wouldn't have been what it was (if it wasn't) for Rihanna ... just would have been a whole different moment for her - exactly where I am right now," he said.

On the Beat:R&B

Anytime a major recording artist undergoes some type of traumatic or scandalous personal experience, it's almost expected that the artist's next album will reflect this event. Thus, when R&B superstar Rihanna suffered a felony assault at the hands of singer and then-boyfriend Chris Brown earlier this year, it became practically a foregone conclusion that her music would immediately take a darker, more personal turn.

It's completely unfair, but if Rihanna's latest effort, "Rated R," had been an upbeat collection of blithe dance-pop tunes, she would have been viewed by the general listening public as either disingenuous or tragically deluded. Instead, the album portrays the young singer as angry, reckless and defiant, an approach that may seem more emotionally believable but one that does few favors for Rihanna's music.

"Rated R" is almost wholly a joyless affair, full of unhealthy relationships, angry sex and violent threats. Over a numbing parade of menacing synths and squealing rock guitars, Rihanna oscillates