That moment still haunts her not because she wants to remember it, but because she says the world can't let it go. She will forever be associated with domestic abuse, a role she's not entirely comfortable playing.

"Well, I just never understood that," she said, 'like how the victim gets punished over and over. It's in the past, and I don't want to say 'Get over it,' because it's a very serious thing that is still relevant; it's still real. A lot of women, a lot of young girls, are still going through it. A lot of young boys too. It's not a subject to sweep under the rug, so I can't just dismiss it like it wasn't anything, or I don't take it seriously. But, for me, and anyone who's been a victim of domestic abuse, nobody wants to even remember it. Nobody even wants to admit it. So to talk about it and say it once, much less 200 times, is like'I have to be punished for it? It didn't sit well with me."

When the two got back together in 2012, Rihanna admitted, "I was very protective of him. I felt that people didn't understand him. Even after'" trailing off and failing to finish that ominous thought. 'I don't hate him," she said. "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," she clarified.