Rihanna Opens Up About Chris Brown, Talks Rachel Dolezal with ‘Vanity Fair’

Whether you think she’s everything or think she’s a bit much, Rihanna knows how to keep people talking. Now the star is ready to do some talking of her own, choosing to open up about a wide range of issues for her November cover story with Vanity Fair.

Rihanna spoke to the mag about everything from her thought process during that Chris Brown reconciliation, to her opinions on Rachel Dolezal, the white woman who made headlines recently for going through her life as a black woman.

“I was that girl,” she says about getting back together with Brown after their infamous 2009 domestic occurrence, “that girl who felt that as much pain as this relationship is, maybe some people are built stronger than others. Maybe I’m one of those people built to handle shit like this. Maybe I’m the person who’s almost the guardian angel to this person, to be there when they’re not strong enough, when they’re not understanding the world, when they just need someone to encourage them in a positive way and say the right thing.”

In other words, the singer did what most women do and thought she could change him for the better. “A hundred percent. I was very protective of him. I felt that people didn’t understand him. Even after … But you know, you realize after a while that in that situation you’re the enemy. You want the best for them, but if you remind them of their failures, or if you remind them of bad moments in their life, or even if you say I’m willing to put up with something, they think less of you—because they know you don’t deserve what they’re going to give. And if you put up with it, maybe you are agreeing that you [deserve] this, and that’s when I finally had to say, ‘Uh-oh, I was stupid thinking I was built for this.’ Sometimes you just have to walk away.”

As far as their relationship now she told the mag, “I don’t hate him. I will care about him until the day I die. We’re not friends, but it’s not like we’re enemies. We don’t have much of a relationship now.”

The pop star was also candid about her feelings toward Rachel Dolezal, the white N.A.A.C.P. exec who garnered national attention for spending a decent part of her adult life pretended to be black. “I think she was a bit of a hero, because she kind of flipped on society a little bit,” she said. “Is it such a horrible thing that she pretended to be black? Black is a great thing, and I think she legit changed people’s perspective a bit and woke people up.”

Read more of Rihanna’s open and honest interview (and try not to become a fan, we dare you) as she covers her sex and dating life (which may not be quite as active as we al think), her fears of fame and much more with Vanity Fair.

Photo Credit: Twitter/Vanity Fair