Chris Brown and Rihanna have come full circle with their once fairytale romance that left the then 20-year Barbados born singer with a swollen, bloodied face. Fast forward three-years later and an outsider would never imagine the tarnished history the two pop stars share. Save of course, for the critics, namely women who rip Rihanna a new one for rekindling any sort of friendship/relationship with her one-time abuser.
Last Wednesday, RiRi threw up the middle finger to her naysayers (0nce again) when she was photographed walking several steps behind Brown as he headed to court to answer accusations of faking his community service related to the charges in the domestic abuse case. The bold move outraged Andrea Peyser of the New York Post who called the singer a “disgrace”.
With young women wanting to grow up to be Rihanna, this is a disgrace.
For there was Rihanna, trailing Brown like an idiot puppy. She was not there to glare at her man, or give him a richly deserved smack upside the head. RiRi instead engifted Brown with a little lovin’ before he faced a judge.
She humiliated herself.
She embarrassed all women.
RiRi, if you want to make yourself into a fool, keep it away from impressionable girls who aspire to be just like you.
I’ve lost any respect I ever had for you.
At Sunday night’s Grammy Awards, Rihanna tested her critics again when she rested her head upon her ex-lovers shoulder….in the front row. By Monday morning the critics were at it again. Erika Ramirez of Billboard compared the duo to Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown.
With each Instagram photo that pops up on my feed, I still can’t help but cringe a little. When I see Rihanna rest her head on Chris’ shoulder at the Grammys or hear of her blow kisses at him during his court hearing last week (Feb. 6) – I can’t help but recall when I’d see Whitney Houston root for Bobby Brown during his drug abuse hearings. It’s uncomfortable as hell, but what are you gonna do?
In this case? Erika plans to move on.
If seeing ChRihanna together takes you on a
tumultous(tumultuous) ride down memory lane, buckle up because the trip doesn’t seem to be ending anytime soon. For me, I’m exiting here.
Popular women’s site Jezebel also took a stab at the much-talked about Grammy reunion…..with a different point of view. Rebecca Carroll recalled the anger she once slung at her sister who returned to her abuser only to realize, one damaged sibling relationship later, that anger wasn’t the answer.
I watched my sister return to abusive boyfriends for years, starting when we were teenagers.
(We) grew up in rural New Hampshire. Our high school had a front hall, where the cool kids hung out, and a back hall, where the smokers, druggies, and general losers hung out. I was a front-hall kid; my sister was a back-hall kid. I went to great pains to disassociate myself from her. I considered her feathered hair, acid-wash jeans, and reeking of smoke a moral failure. Her willingness to be in an abusive relationship was an extension of that failure, in my teenage mind.
Today, my sister and I are still at odds for various reasons — some of them, maybe all, stem from the front-hall, back-hall attitude — but I deeply regret having judged her so harshly during those years she was being physically abused, and have since become far more attuned to the experience of survivors.
Well there you have it – Until the next time Rihanna and Chris rile up the critics.
