Rihanna left the door wide open to a renewed Chris Brown romance during her Oprah interview on Aug. 19. But a new love affair can only work if the pair takes a critical step, a top psychologist tells HollywoodLife.com exclusively.
Rihanna and Chris Brown are “very close friends” now, the singer revealed to Oprah, plus she admitted that she still loves him.
So the question is — can the pair ever safely get back together romantically and avoid falling into another episode or pattern of domestic abuse?
Yes, they can, says family psychologist Jeff Gardere, the chief contributor to Healthguru.com. But the duo have to understand that they will both have to do a lot of work individually and together with therapists, in order to have a healthy relationship.
“Rihanna is still a victim. She will carry her emotional scars around for years,” he explains. “Plus, they both come from backgrounds of domestic violence. Chris’ stepfather beat his mother and Rihanna’s father beat her mother.”
“They both need to be in therapy or counseling,” he advises. “They both have to understand how their upbringing led Chris to have anger issues and for Rihanna to feel guilty about possibly setting off his behavior.”
Gardere agrees that while many people may see Brown as a “monster,” as Rihanna pointed out in her interview, he disagrees with that characterization.
He believes that Chris has definitely made progress on his issues because he did not fight back when he was attacked by Drake‘s entourage at the W.i.P. club in NYC.
“Walking away was the bravest thing he could ever do, and he did that,” says Gardere.
In the meantime, he says that in his experience, domestic violence is not always a death sentence for a relationship. “It is a major, major occurrence but there are partners who save their relationship if they both get help individually and together,” he advises.
So that’s the bottom line for Chris and Rihanna. If they still love each other and want to be together again, each needs to have to have counseling alone and they must have continued counseling together, in order to ensure that they have a loving and violence-free relationship for good!
Good luck Chris and Rihanna!
Bonnie Fuller
More Rihanna and Chris Brown
- Rihanna Shouldn’t Take Chris Brown Back — He’s A Violent Felon
- Rihanna: I’m Happy As Long As Chris Brown Is At Peace
- Rihanna Reiterating Her Love For Chris Brown On Twitter?
john kingdon
Posted at 12:28 AM on August 23, 2012
The most important thing in a relationship is LOVE and RESPECT and these 2 people even after 4 years seem to have it for each other. They MUST go for therapy and most certainly get back. They have the potential of being the most powerful entertainment couple in the industry as they are in their 20′s and by the time they hit their 30′s they will be major major players in the entertainment industry BUT they need to get therapy and support each other. They both seem like very down to earth kids who really are madly in love with each other and dont know how to handle the issue of expressing their points accross without getting upset. I canot think of anything negative to say about either Chris or Rihanna as they both are good people with good hearts . I just hope and pray they give it another go and show the world that this does not mean the end of the relationship but a way forward together and hapily in love. I am 44 years old and we had similar problems in our family and so did my wife and that generated to my married family life but we got proper councelling and therapy and worked things out . I can proudly say i have been married for 23 years and have 3 kids and i have overcome such issues and thirved in my marriage . I only can wish Chris and Rihanna the best and to make an attempt to try as its so worth it,God bless them both