Rihanna interviewed by Diane Sawyer on 20/20

[koganbot]

I presume most of you saw this (and I don't know how long this YouTube rip will stay up), but someone's posted the full interview. [EDIT: That link is down, but for now, at least, the interview is at these links on the 20/20 Website: Part One, Part Two, and Part Three.] Crucial passages:

I fell in love with that person. That's embarrassing. That's embarrassing that that's the type of person that I fell in love with, so far in love, so unconditional that I went back. It's humiliating to see your face like that. It's humiliating to say that this happened, to accept that.

. . .

At night I wouldn't go to sleep because I was too afraid it [her father beating her mom] would happen... He broke her nose one time but she would never go to the hospital. Domestic violence is not something that people want anyone to know. I always said to myself "I'm never going to date somebody like my dad. Never." I always said that.

. . .

You want this thing to go away. This is a memory you don't want to have ever again. So the minute the physical wounds go away you put it in the back of your head and start lying to yourself, subconsciously... Initially you start thinking "What could I possibly have said to make him hit me and do this?" Like, you replay that in your head, and eventually you're like, "No. Stop. Stop." I just - I didn't talk about it to anyone. To no one... If I feel this depressed, then what is he going though? Again, lying to yourself: "I had to protect him." The whole world hates him now. His fans, his career. I just wanted to let him know, "Don't do anything stupid."

Of course - and she talks about this - there's a commercial incentive for her to explain why she initially went back to Chris and then to repudiate the going back; but this interview seems credible. Psychologically true. There's a moment where - for the first time - she's watching one of Chris's televised apologies, and she says that it seems like he's reading off a teleprompter. That felt very real, her saying this - so presumably she knows that the health of her psyche demands that she forgo any such canned bullshit herself.

I'd say Rihanna's the key figure in pop music for the last three years; the two before this one, anyway. And deservedly so, given the quality of the music and the way she delivers it. I've never felt a strong sense of her, either as a person or a persona, even though I've been consistently moved by the character of the songs. I wouldn't say I know how talented she is: her burnt, not-particularly flexible vocals manage to work on a whole slew of different material, from light to dark, I'm not sure why. I feel dumb or even wrong saying that all this - her getting beaten, this interview, etc. - has humanized her music for me, but it has.

Comments

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I thought the interview was pretty awesome - she could easily have taken one of several obvious routes, but instead she presented a nuanced and honest take on domestic abuse, and touched on a lot of important points which rarely get raised. She seems to have thought about it in depth, and kudos to her support team (friends, family, management, therapy, whoever) over the past year.

The embarrassment point is so key. It's so easy to say, why would you go back? Especially if you're as powerful as Rihanna is. But if you pride yourself on being smart and strong, the realisation that you've been taken for a fool destroys your self-image somewhat.

Cutting Diane Sawyer off with "I am strong - this happened to me" was amazing, as was "Eff love". So important - the way she conveys so concisely a) it wasn't her fault, and nothing about this diminishes her; b) cuts through the "but I live him" bullshit by acknowledging that love exists, but that it's not the most important thing and, contra every cultural message sent our way, doesn't override other considerations.

[koganbot]

Yes. Her saying that you have to look at it as if you're a third person. Really was extraordinary. And she came across as very smart.

In the old days in her interviews she seemed at ease in the interview situation but also essentially guarded, that she knew well how not to be appealing enough without saying anything personally revealing, came across as an ambitious, attractive young businesswoman, basically. What she said in this interview, how with Chris she'd been able to play, to find a space to be a kid, made sense. In this interview her taking care in her responses came across not as guarded but as thoughtful. She also impressively had words at hand as she was speaking, didn't clutter herself up with likes and you knows.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I think this is the first time I've heard Rihanna's spoken voice, and the same is true for many - on ILX we speculated whether her prior relative lack of public speaking might be because of her accent coding too foreign.

[koganbot]

She's been on Tyra Banks several times. Here she is in 2007. Lots of bullshit and noise that she's half going along with at the start, then at 5:25 it suddenly gets serious about her parents divorce, how it was a relief for her when her parents finally split up for good. Now we have a better idea why.

[koganbot]

she knew well how not to be appealing enough

Er, that not wasn't supposed to be there, obviously.