"
There was no person when I looked at him," the 21-year-old singer recalled during portions of an interview with Diane Sawyer airing on ABC's "20/20" and, earlier, "Good Morning America." "He had no soul in his eyes. Just blank."
Brown was arrested Feb. 8, hours after he was accused of beating Rihanna after the two argued over another woman. He later pleaded guilty to felony assault.
In the interview, Rihanna, who is no longer with Brown, described him as "definitely my first big love." She said their relationship was intense.
"The more in love we became, the more dangerous we became for each other
- equally as dangerous," she said. "It was a bit of an obsession almost."
The attack occurred in Los Angeles' Hancock Park neighborhood as Brown drove a rented sports car. She said it was triggered when she saw a text message on his phone from another woman and confronted him about it. She said he lied about it and "I wouldn't drop it."
A search warrant affidavit filed in the case stated that Brown hit, choked and bit Rihanna and tried at one point to push her from the car.
"It was ugly," she said.
During the beating, the singer said she had no idea how it would end: "That's all I kept thinking the whole time,
'When is it going to stop? When is it going to stop?'"
Brown was sentenced to five years' probation, six months of community labor and a year of domestic violence counseling after he pleaded guilty to felony assault.
Rihanna said that, even after her physical wounds had healed, she felt embarrassment and shame.
"You start thinking, 'What could I possibly have said to make him hit me and do this?' ... I didn't talk about it to anyone. To no one. Not my friends, not my family. I didn't want people looking at me and feeling sorry for me, like,
'There goes the victim.'"
