Chris Brown says he doesn’t remember beating Rihanna, still loves former girlfriend

Chris Brown says he still loves Rihanna

LOS ANGELES — Chris Brown says he remembers beating Rihanna and that a brief interview clip making the rounds online Monday in which he said he didn’t recall the incident “is not representative of what I said.”

The R&B singer tells People magazine in a lengthy statement that he “misspoke” during the 30-second clip and that he was asked “something like 4 or 5 times” about the altercation with Rihanna during an hourlong interview.

“Of course I remember what happened,” Brown said in a statement late Monday. “Several times during the interview, my mother said that I came to her right afterwards and told her everything. But it was and still is a blur.”

In his first public interviews on the subject, the Brown told People magazine and CNN’s Larry King that his feelings haven’t changed for Rihanna since the February beating that left her bloody and bruised.

“I never fell out of love with her,” Brown told People. “That just wouldn’t go away.”

Brown told King in an interview scheduled to air on Wednesday night that he is still in shock about his actions. Brown’s mother, Joyce Hawkins, accompanied her son during both interviews.

“When I look at it now, it’s just like, wow, like, I can’t believe that that actually happened,” Brown told King.

Brown pleaded guilty to felony assault in June and last week was sentenced to five years of probation, a year of domestic violence counseling and six months of community labor. He will serve his sentence in his home state of Virginia.

A judge also ordered Brown, 20, and Rihanna, 21, to stay away from each other.

A police affidavit and probation report detail the beating, which included Brown hitting, biting and choking Rihanna, whose real name is Robyn Rihanna Fenty. The attack occurred in a car after the couple attended a pre-Grammy Awards party.

Brown’s interview with People will be published in an issue released on Friday. He told the magazine he called his mother, who was a domestic violence victim, the night of the attack.

“I was distraught. I went to my mom on the same night and told (her) what happened and broke down.”

Brown released a video statement last month in which he apologized to fans and said he had repeatedly apologized to Rihanna for the attack.

On the Net:

People magazine: www.people.com

CNN: www.cnn.com