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Rihanna opens up about Chris Brown: 'We're not friends'

The "Umbrella" singer talked to Vanity Fair about some headline-making stories, from her relationship with Brown to Rachel Dolezal.
/ Source: TODAY

Rihanna has been having a terrific time in 2015: Not only has she had a big hit with "Bitch Better Have My Money," become an official Dior spokesperson and joined "The Voice" as a key advisor, she's got her eighth studio album set to drop any day now.

Image: Celebrity Sightings In Paris  -  October 03, 2015
Rihanna in 2015.Pierre Suu / Getty Images Contributor

But she can still surprise us, as she does popping up on the cover of the November Vanity Fair and giving the publication a frank interview in which she shares some firm opinions on touchy subjects.

First off, she's unapologetic about her on-again, off-again relationship with Chris Brown, who was arrested for assaulting her in 2009. She explained she went back to that relationship because she thought she could change him.

"A hundred percent," she said. "I was very protective of him. I felt that people didn't understand him."

Image: Chris Brown and Rihanna
Rihanna and Chris Brown in 2008.Lucas Jackson / Reuters file

Then, she said, that decision had repercussions on her self-image. "If you put up with it, maybe you are agreeing that you [deserve] this, and that's when I finally had to say, 'Uh-oh, I was stupid thinking I was built for this.' Sometimes you just have to walk away."

And these days? "I don’t hate him. I will care about him until the day I die. We're not friends, but it's not like we’re enemies. We don't have much of a relationship now."

But when not speaking about Brown, she also had some surprising thoughts about Rachel Dolezal, the former NAACP chapter leader who earlier this year came under fire for falsely claiming to be African-American.

MORE: Rachel Dolezal is a 'bit of a hero' Rihanna tells Vanity Fair

"I think she was a bit of a hero, because she kind of flipped on society a little bit," said Rihanna. "Is it such a horrible thing that she pretended to be black? Black is a great thing, and I think she legit changed people’s perspective a bit and woke people up."

Be sure to read the whole conversation here, or in the pages of the November Vanity Fair.

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