Earlier this week, running back Ray Rice was cut by the Baltimore Ravens and suspended indefinitely from the NFL following public uproar from a leaked video that showed him assaulting his then-fiancée and now wife Janay Rice. Now Chris Brown, who was sentenced to five-year probation and 1,400 hours of community service in 2009 after infamously assaulting then-girlfriend Rihanna, gave some words of advice to the football player.
In an interview with MTV News' Sway Calloway Thursday, Sept. 11, the 25-year-old R&B singer said, "To Ray, or anybody else - because I'm not better than the next man - I can just say I've been down that road. 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."
"I think help is great," the "Loyal" singer 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.'"
The Tappahannock, Virginia-born recording artist acknowledged the fact that he is not in a position to pass judgment, and he is only speaking from his own experience.
"For me, dealing with my anger issues and understanding myself and the life I've been through, where I'm headed and where I want to be has helped me focus on what's really important and not F up," he explained. "For anybody who's going through that situation or anybody who's dealing with it - it's all about the choices. Every situation is different but it's all about the choices you make and how you control your anger."
The controversial assault video of Rice was leaked by TMZ Sports earlier this week, and it shows him punching his then-fiancée in a hotel elevator at Atlantic City's Revel Casino on Feb. 15.
At first, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell only gave Rice a two-game suspension for the incident, but his penalty was heavily slammed by many, considering the year-long suspension given to the Cleveland Browns' Josh Gordon, who recently failed a marijuana test. So NFL increased Rice's penalty and also made adjustments to its personal conduct policies related to domestic violence, RollingStone reported.
In wake of Rice's video scandal, Rihanna had her song pulled from the opening of Thursday night's NFL broadcast of the Ravens-Steelers game, according to CNN.
