Chris Brown Offers Advice to Ray Rice Amidst Domestic Abuse Scandal: "I've Been Down That Road"

 
Chris Brown offered advice to embattled football star Ray Rice during an interview with MTV News on Thursday, Sept. 11. Rice was terminated by the Baltimore Ravens and suspended indefinitely by the NFL after surveillance footage showed him assaulting his then-fiancee (and now wife) Janay Rice.

"I think it's all about the choices you make," Brown, 25, told Sway Calloway about the issue of domestic violence. "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."

snapshot from surveillance camera

Brown was sentenced to five years of probation after battering his former girlfriend Rihanna in 2009. In subsequent years, he was involved in numerous physical altercations with celebrities like Drake and Frank Ocean. (The "Don't Wake Me Up" singer and Rihanna reconciled in late 2012 and were seen being affectionate in the audience of two separate 2013 awards shows. In May 2013, Brown revealed in an interview that he and the "We Found Love" songstress were done.)
"I think help is great," Brown told MTV News. "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 Grammy winner said he's learned to make better choices in life. "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 reflected. "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."

Brown concluded his interview by directly addressing Rice. "To Ray, or anybody else — because I’m not better than the next man — I can just say I’ve been down that road," he said. "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."