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Rihanna broke her silence about the assault she suffered at the hands of Chris Brown in a November 6 interview with Diane Sawyer on ABC’s 20/20, and in the December issue of Glamour Magazine. The popular singer told Sawyer, “When I realized that my selfish decision for love could result in some young girls getting killed, I could not be easy with that part… I couldn’t be held responsible for telling them to go back. If Chris never hit me again, who’s to say that their boyfriends won’t? Who’s to say that they won’t kill these girls? These are young girls. I just didn’t realize how much of an impact I had on these girls’ lives until that happened.”

She said she still struggles with what happened: “The thing that men don’t realize when they hit a woman… the face, the broken arm, the black eye, it’s going to heal. That’s not the problem. It’s the scar inside. You flash back. You remember it all the time. It comes back to you all the time whether you like it or not, and it’s painful.”

Rihanna was named one of Glamour Magazine’s Women of the Year 2009. In an interview with the magazine, she said the leak of the photo of her bruised and bloody face that was featured on the Internet and in media outlets across the country was humiliating. “That is not a photo you would show to anybody. I felt completely taken advantage of. I felt like people were making it into a fun topic on the Internet, and it’s my life.”

“Domestic violence is a big secret,” she continued. “It’s one of the things we will hide, because it’s embarrassing. My story was broadcast all over the world for people to see, and they have followed every step of my recovery. The positive thing that has come out of my situation is that people can learn from that. I want to give as much insight as I can to young women, because I feel like I represent a voice that really isn’t heard.”

Over the past few months, Brown has made a few public statements about the incident. He was widely criticized after a September 2 appearance on CNN’s Larry King Live for saying he did not “remember” assaulting Rihanna.

In a more recent interview with MTV News Correspondent Sway for the MTV news special, “Chris Brown: The Interview,” Brown refused to address the details of the assault. But he did say that, when he thinks back on it, he wonders, “Like, ‘What was I thinking? What is wrong with you?… How do you learn from your mistakes, turn it into a positive and help other people with the situation, and at the end of the day become the person that you want to be?’”

When asked about his advice for other young men in similar situations, Brown said, “Revaluate the situation and if it’s going to get to that point, you’ve got to leave. You’ve got to back up. Make sure the relationship is healthy because if you don’t have a healthy relationship, it’s not a relationship.”

In the past, Brown has talked openly about the abuse his mother suffered, and what it was like to be a child growing up in a home with domestic violence.