R&B star Rihanna has finally opened up about the Chris Brown controversy stating that she found it hard to come to terms with her ex-boyfriend assaulting her because he was her "first love".

The 'Umbrella' hitmaker, who was left battered and bruised after Brown assaulted her in February at a pre-Grammys party, knows that she is not the only person to be the victim of domestic abuse, Contactmusic reported.

"This happened to me. It can happen to anyone," Rihanna said.

However, the 21-year-old singer admitted it was hard to come to terms with because of the feelings she had for the 'Run It' singer.

"He was definitely my first big love," Rihanna said in an episode of US TV show 'Good Morning America'.

Brown recently gave an interview about the assault and spoke of his regret about attacking Rihanna.

"I'm human. If people feel a certain way, I'm not going to say they're wrong. But it's not right to judge somebody when people make mistakes all the time. I've learned from my mistakes and I'm learning from them. And I regret every moment, every second of it," Brown said.

Brown had pleaded guilty to the assault and was sentenced to six months of community service, 12 months of domestic violence counselling and five years probation and was issued a restraining order which requires him to stay at least 100 yards from Rihanna for five years.