Rihanna Talks Eminem And Domestic Violence In UK Marie Claire

I expect the usual scripted response along the lines of there being nothing left to be said. What I don't expect is the rare level of honesty and personal insight Rihanna is willing to volunteer. In turns, listening in will be both uncomfortable and inspiring but in the end what emerges is not only a unique picture of the reverse side of celebrity but Rihanna's desire to tell her story of domestic abuse, only too aware there are many others who share and are going through the same kind of suffering.

Are you a different person now? I repeat. "Yes," she answers with surety. "I was very lost. I have to say I felt really confused. It was really strange because..." Her eyes begin to well up then she scolds herself for being upset. "Aaagh!" she exclaims outloud. "I hate talking about it but it was really crazy because I felt so out of touch with myself and when that happens..."

She's struggling through the sentence but is determined to continue. "It's scary because nothing you say or do feels like it's you. You just lose touch of everything that you love and everything that you would normally do; how you would dress or how you would say something... It just feels like it's not coming from you. It's just this one empty vase. I felt like an empty vessel." Tears fall down her face but she tells me it's alright. "I'm just… I feel like... I smile for real this time.

"'Eventually, I remember waking up one day and I knew I was over it. One day. I remember I was in New York at the Trump Hotel and I woke up and I just knew I was over it."

With all that she's been through, some critics have questioned her recent appearance on the Eminem single, "Love The Way You Lie" and how, in their view, it glamorises domestic violence. Rihanna has no regrets. "He [Eminen] confronted himself on it. He basically gives insight into what goes on in the mind of a couple in a domestically violent relationship. I love that in every verse it just gets to that point where she wants to leave, she wants to leave, she leaves, she leaves, she leaves... but then the hook always comes back and it's like, 'I love it. I love it.' That's not what you think when it's happening. You know you don't like it but you're staying, so it's almost like you must love it because you're not leaving."
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