Results tagged “Chris Brown”

New York City tattoo artist BangBang, who tattooed Rihanna, tells Life & Style Rihanna loved the idea of getting a gun tattoo when they looked at sketches.

"She loves the gun tattoo. She got the tattoo last Thursday, March 19," BangBang tells Life & Style.

"She flew me out to LA for the day because she was getting a tattoo for one of her friends as a birthday gift. She'd been toying with the idea for a while to get another tattoo. I've done other tattoos for her; I added stars to the ones she already had.

"So when I was done with her friend, we talked about what she wanted to get. She was doing research on what would look good, and I drew up a couple of things on the back of her arm, but they weren't the perfect one.

"I'm a big advocate of guns. So I said, 'How about a gun?' I printed out a picture of a gun that I thought would look good, and she loved it. We were thinking of putting it on her finger next to her wrist, or on her shoulders. She loved that, but it took away from her face, and you know, she's a CoverGirl, so we couldn't do that!

"So we put it under her ribs and she loved it. It took about 15 minutes. She didn't complain while I did the tattoo.

"We also talked about her getting a skull and crossbones, but she didn't love it."

Asked why he thinks RiRi got the gun tattoo, given the assault charges against her boyfriend, Chris Brown, BangBang said, "If I had to say why she
got it, it's because she kicks ass and everybody supports her! She can do whatever she wants. She's one of the nicest and sweetest people I know. She has a lot of really good friends supporting her.

"We didn't talk about why she specifically got it. She's a rock. She's just thinking about having a great time now."

Photo Credit: BangBang/East Side Ink, NYC

Rihanna has kept a low profile since Chris Brown allegedly assaulted her on Feb. 8. But on March 13, she stepped out in a big way, going to an A-list dinner with pals Jay-Z, Beyoncé and Brandy at NYC hot spot the Spotted Pig.

With Chris back in LA, Rihanna appeared to be trying to send a message to the world: I'm okay without Chris. And while she hasn't dumped him, something other than the alleged attack may be coming between them: The woman whose text message reportedly sparked their fight is still an intimate part of Chris' life.

According to the police report, Chris, 19, had a "previous sexual relationship" with the woman who texted him on Feb. 8, widely reported to be his much older manager, Tina Davis, 39.

For more on Chris' relationship with Tina Davis, pick up the latest issue of Life & Style, on newsstands now!

Photo Credit: Retna

Oprah Winfrey, never one to suppress her opinions, was shockingly blunt when she spoke out about Chris Brown's alleged attack on Rihanna. Looking directly into the television camera, as if she were addressing Rihanna herself, Oprah warned the singer, "If a man hits you once, he will hit you again. He will hit you again."

Oprah also had some advice for the duo, who recently reconciled just weeks after the alleged Feb. 8 beating. "Both Chris Brown and Rihanna, if I were your friend, I'd call you up and say, 'Give it some time. Get yourself some counseling. Take care of yourself. Heal yourself first,'" she said. After all, she noted, "I've been saying this to women for years -- love doesn't hurt."

For more on Oprah's advice to Rihanna, pick up the latest issue of Life & Style, on newsstands now!

Photo Credit: Retna

People generally head to beach retreats like Punta Mita, Mexico, to sip margaritas and party with friends. But for Rihanna, her late-February getaway was a time for healing -- something she desperately needed. Thirteen days after she was allegedly beaten by her boyfriend, Chris Brown, on Feb. 8, Rihanna was photographed outside a private villa called Casa Beidisia, looking reflective one day after her 21st birthday. "She looked like she was there to get away from all the attention and to recover," says an eyewitness.

While Rihanna was clearly trying to get past the horror of what happened to her, she was also weighing her future. But shockingly, she wasn't deciding whether to leave Chris, 19, but rather when she should reunite with him. By Feb. 27, just three days after she left Mexico, the couple had reunited at rapper Sean "Diddy" Combs' house on Miami Beach's Star Island.

"She never had any intention of ending it with Chris," says an insider close to Rihanna. "It's partly because she cares about him a lot. But another big part is that she can't bear the thought of him with another girl. So Chris and Rihanna are working things out because that's the way she wants it."

And Chris certainly isn't going to argue. "He's not stupid," the insider notes. "He knew it would take the heat off him if fans saw she was willing to forgive him.

For more on why Rihanna decided to take Chris back, pick up the latest issue of Life & Style, on newsstands now!

Photo Credit: Rihanna

After recuperating for a few days in Punta Mita, Mexico, it seems Rihanna has made up her mind: She's taking Chris Brown back!

"Rihanna and Chris are working things out because that's the way she wants it," an insider close to Rihanna tells Life & Style. "She never had any intention of ending it." The insider also adds that it was Rihanna's idea to meet up in Miami Beach, where she and Chris are staying at Sean "Diddy" Combs' estate on Star Island.

Chris was more than willing to meet his girlfriend on her terms. "Chris isn't stupid. He knew it would take the heat off him if fans saw that she was willing to forgive him," says the insider.

But the insider reveals that the songstress' decision was not popular with those close to her: "Everyone on her team begged her to give it more time, to wait before giving it another shot," says the insider "But she couldn't wait to see him. They have talked almost every day for the past two weeks!"

And Rihanna seems committed to making the relationship work, even vowing to help Chris through the legal battle he may face. "Rihanna's promised to do everything she can to get him off the hook legally," the insider reveals.

For more on Chris and Rihanna's tumultuous relationship, read Life & Style's cover story, on newsstands now!

Photo credit: Wire Image

Contrary to this weekend's gossip, Khloe Kardashian tells Life & Style exclusively that she never saw Chris Brown at the Hotel Gansevoort South in Miami on Feb. 27. Chris was rumored to be partying with Khloe at rapper Young Jeezy's pool party at Plunge at the hotel.

"I was not with Chris Brown at all this weekend. I didn't even see him," Khloe insists. And she says on her blog that she's never even met the singer!

Chris is reportedly in Miami to patch things up with girlfriend Rihanna after their violent fight in LA on Feb. 8.

For more on the latest saga of Chris Brown and Rihanna, read the cover story in Life & Style's latest issue, on newsstands now!

Photo credit: iPhoto

Singer Rihanna has discovered that the best way to recover from a very public scandal with your boyfriend is to take some time off. As an eyewitness tells Life & Style, that's exactly what she did last week. The singer was spotted taking some much-needed vacation time with friends in Mexico on Feb. 21.

"Rihanna arrived with five other people to stay in a private villa in Punta Mita," the eyewitness reveals. "The house was in a gated community and was very private." The villa, which has seven bedrooms and a private swimming pool and Jacuzzi, seems like the perfect place for a star like Rihanna to recuperate away from the public eye!

The eyewitness adds that the singer seems to be healing from her injuries quite well: "If you saw her, you wouldn't think anything had happened. There was no bruising that I could see." However, Rihanna definitely wanted to remain undercover. "She did not want to be seen," says the witness. "She never went on the beach and was either in the house or by the pool for most of the time."

But it seems that the songstress' mood was definitely bolstered by the vacation: "While she was there, she seemed happy. She was playing volleyball and having lunch poolside. She and her guests seemed to be having a good time!"

For more on Rihanna's ordeal, read the cover story in this week's Life & Style, on newsstands now!

Photo Credit: National Photo Group

As shocking evidence of Rihanna and Chris Brown's alleged fight continues to surfaces, Rihanna is trying to pick up the pieces and put her life back together. However, behind closed doors, she is still deeply traumatized by the ordeal, says an insider close to her. "She's devastated all this has become so public," an insider tells Life & Style. "She's just angry and extremely humiliated that the whole world knows how much pain she's in right now."

As of press time, Rihanna had yet to file charges against Chris. If she does, Chris is already preparing his counterattack, an insider close to his legal team tells Life & Style. If necessary, one excuse he could use: self-defense. "Chris is already building his case," the insider says. "He's saying she threw a phone at him, then hit him in the head and basically just lost it. He's saying she attacked him."

Could that defense hold up in court? It depends, says Darren Kavinoky, a criminal defense attorney in LA. "Unless there's some indication that she was enraged to the point that she physically threatened him, I think he'd have a tough time with that defense," Kavinoky says. "If it goes to court, ultimately it would be up to a jury to decide."

But for Rihanna, who's already suffering, possibly being accused at trial of provoking this fight could seem like another attack -- one she's not emotionally prepared to face. "She's told her team to do what they need to do," a Rihanna insider tells Life & Style. "She just wants them to handle things for her."

For more on the Chris and Rihanna drama, pick up the latest issue of Life & Style, on newsstands now!

A week after his arrest following a violent fight with his girlfriend, Rihanna, Chris Brown broke his silence with a statement, saying, "Words cannot begin to express how sorry and saddened I am over what transpired." But while Chris was finally speaking out about what happened, at press time, the notoriously press-shy Rihanna still wasn't. "She wants more time to think about everything," says an insider close to Chris. "She loves Chris but also wants to send the right message to fans by what she says publicly and how she handles her relationship."

Although Rihanna was spotted leaving LA's London hotel with Chris the morning after the incident -- which reportedly left her with two contusions on her forehead, a bloody lip and nose, and bite marks on one arm and several fingers -- she returned alone to her native Barbados soon after. "At some point, she will speak out," says her father, Ronald Fenty, who still lives in Barbados. "She'll be all right." As for the state of her relationship with Chris, Ronald adds, "If it were me, I'd move on."

But will Rihanna, 21, be able to break things off with Chris, 19, whom she's been dating for a little more than a year? While a family friend of Chris' tells Life & Style the two are not currently talking, a Rihanna insider isn't convinced the star will cut Chris out of her life for good.

For more on Chris and Rihanna's tumultuous relationship, pick up the latest issue of Life & Style, on newsstands now!

Chris Brown hasn't been dropped from all of his projects -- there's still one in the works.

Melvin James, the director and writer of Caramel, in which Chris will star, tells Life & Style, "Chris' current situation hasn't had any effect on things in terms of the film. We're still planning on working with him.

"We're still in pre-production, but we're looking to shoot around September. We got pushed back a little bit because of other projects.

"Chris plays the male lead, Cali. He has a love story with the title character, Caramel.

"Caramel is a modern-day version of the film American Graffiti. It's a coming-of-age story about young people, their music, their cars, and there's a love story in there."

Photo Credit: Retna

A source tells Life & Style that this weekend's Grammy dust-up was not the first time police have been called to deal with singer Chris Brown.

At the Shore Club hotel in Miami in 2007, police were called to Chris' hotel room where the singer had been "screaming and throwing dishes."

"He was fighting with his mom. Neighboring hotel guests alerted security and they came upstairs to the room, saw the broken dishes and the mess, and then asked his mother to leave the room. Police were then called, but charges were not filed as Chris simply paid the hotel bill and left the hotel."

A call to Chris Brown's lawyer was not immediately returned.

Photo Credit: StarMax

Photo Credit: WireImage

After picking out matching his-and-hers vintage Carrera sunglasses at a Grammy gift lounge on Feb. 6, Rihanna and her boyfriend, Chris Brown, headed over to Timbaland's pre-Grammy bash at Boulevard 3 in LA. "It's going to be cool," Chris told Life & Style when asked about Rihanna's performance that night.

But Chris didn't seem to be having much fun as the party carried on. "I saw him and Rihanna fighting," an eyewitness tells Life & Style exclusively. "They were in this room, and they were just screaming at each other, totally cussing each other out. They were screaming, 'F--- you,' 'No, f--- you' at each other, back and forth."

For more on Chris and Rihanna's explosive fighting, pick up the latest issue of Life & Style, on newsstands now!

An eyewitness tells Life & Style that Chris Brown, 19, and girlfriend Rihanna, 20, had a big blowup at pre-Grammy party on Friday night, about 24 hours before Chris allegedly assaulted the singer early Sunday.

"I saw Chris Brown and Rihanna fighting at the Verizon party [at Boulevard 3 nightclub in Hollywood] on Friday night," the eyewitness tells Life & Style. "They were in this room and they were just screaming at each other, totally cussing each other out.

"They were screaming 'F*** you,' 'No, f*** you' at each other, back and forth. They were right in each other's face.

"It was scary. They were surrounded by all these execs and they were all just ignoring it, as if it was something they saw every day.

"It was so shocking. It's just so awful."

For more on Chris and Rihanna, check out the new issue of Life & Style, on newsstands Wednesday!

Photo Credit: WireImage

At least one person has reason to be skeptical about all those denials that Rihanna and Chris Brown are an item -- Christine Reedy, owner of upscale Arianne Lingerie in Sydney, where the two R&B singers, who are touring together Down Under, shopped on Nov. 11.

"They are definitely an item," Reedy tells Life & Style. "He really indulged her; he couldn't give her enough."

And, she says, "they were very touchy-feely."

In the half-hour the two were in the store, Reedy says, Chris spent about $500 on sexy underwear for Rihanna: "classy but edgy" stockings, teddies and bra-and-panties sets in black and red Italian lace.

"He kept saying, 'You'd look great in this, babe!' and getting her whatever she wanted. They were absolutely delightful as a couple."

Photo Credit: Rex USA