[Cooper:] Chris Brown barely said a word when he was convicted and sentenced for assaulting his ex-girlfriend, the singer Rihanna. But tonight, Brown broke his silence, speaking to CNN in an exclusive in- depth interview. Brown was given probation on the attack on Rihanna. He repeatedly punched her head, bit her ear and threatened to kill her. Why did he do it? Is he sorry and what message does he have for his fans and Rihanna? Brown had some surprising answers tonight and some non-answers as well. Here's Chris Brown in his own words.
[Larry King, Cnn Host, "larry King Live":] what do you think caused you to be violent? You have to think about it. We all think about ourselves. Why did I lose my temper, why did I get angry over this?
[Chris Brown, R&b; Singer:] I mean, if you're in a relationship, it wouldn't say it's OK. I think in just in relationships in general, there's chances where you lose your temper or like arguments get heated or whatever the case may be. But that's I'm not saying domestic violence is a part of a relationship. I feel like that just we're young, we're both young. Nobody taught us how to love one another. Nobody taught us a book on how to control our emotions and anger. So, it's like I'm not trying to fall on the fact that I'm young. I'm just saying there's a lot of stuff that I wish I could have changed that night.
[King:] You punched her a number of times.
[Brown:] Yes.
[King:] You threatened to beat the blank out of her. When you got home, also you said you were going to kill her. You bit her on the ear and thinking you hear all that..
[Brown:] Yes.
[King:] Obviously this is always the disparagement you have a lawyer here, you don't appear like a violent person.
[Brown:] No.
[King:] In fact, you appear rather calm, rather nice. So what happened to you, do you think?
[Brown:] Well, Larry, I'd just say I guess that night it was just one of the nights I wish I could just take back and I really regret and I feel totally ashamed of what I did.
[King:] That never happened to you before?
[Brown:] No.
[King:] Later in February, you and Rihanna were photographed jet skiing and relaxing at the Miami home of Sean Diddy Combs. How did that come about?
[Brown:] It was sort of like Romeo and Juliet story, like both sides not wanting us to kind of have contact so we just got away and just wanted to and that's the main reason I was on the jet ski I know I got a lot of flack from that and other people were like, well, why is he on a jet ski, why does he just act like he had no care in the world? Because I was rekindling my relationship with my friend.
[King:] Did you rekindle it?
[Brown:] At the time, yes.
[King:] Did she ever say to you, why did you do that?
[Brown:] No.
[Cooper:] That was Chris Brown. He battered Rihanna. Sadly, their case is not unique. One out of four women will be victims of domestic violence in their lifetime one out of four. Denise Brown is the sister of Nicole Brown Simpson. After her sister's murder, Denise Brown became a leading activist in the fight against domestic violence. She joins us now, along with Faye Wattleton, the co-founder and president of the Center for the Advancement of Women. Denise, I assume you watched the interview. What did you make of it? On our blog, a lot of people weighing in, saying they didn't buy his story. And he seemed unwilling to go into any kind of detail about what he actually did.
[Denise Brown, Sister Of Nicole Brown Simpson:] You know, I really truly wish that he would have gone into some detail so he could at least explain to teenage boys how he felt, what was going through his mind, why he did that. Because we all know that people have choices. And he chose to hit her. He chose to beat her. And you know, it was really when I heard the mother say, you know, "I don't buy like the cycle of violence." Well, the cycle of violence is there for it's called the cycle of violence for a reason. And it's about power and control and it's about verbal, emotional, psychological abuse that escalates into physical violence. And then there's the honeymoon phase. And, you know, I even found out tonight that the his mother was in a violent relationship, and Chris saw it when he was younger. So here you continue the cycle of violence. And then he goes to say that, you know, "We just, you know, I don't remember." And I just sit there and I just go, "Wait a minute. What do you mean, you don't remember? How can you not remember when you see this picture of this poor woman whose face has been so brutally, you know, beaten?" It's like how can you not remember unless you were on drugs, unless you were high as a kite, and you were totally out of it? That's the only reason I would think that you don't remember something like this.
[Cooper:] Faye, he repeatedly said he didn't want to talk about details out of respect for Rihanna. And he also denied in the probation report in court that was introduced that said there were two prior incidents of violence. He says he has no knowledge of them.
[Faye Wattleton, Center For The Advancement Of Women:] Well, it's a matter of who said, you know, and what he said and what someone else said. And what...
[Cooper:] What did you make of him tonight on the show?
[Wattleton:] What I made of him is that I think he's really very much trying to rehabilitate his image. He's been given a fairly stringent sentence. He has not been incarcerated, but he is going and he's paid an enormous price in his professional life for what he has done. But I think it's really important, the point that Denise has made in terms of the cycle of violence that starts in the home. And don't forget: these are kids. They were in their late teens. We treat this situation as though it's an intimate partner situation between married couples, but they're not. And the incident of domestic violence or inter-partner violence among adolescents is growing, and it's a really emerging epidemic about which all parents should be concerned about. In terms of how do we begin to stop the cycle of stalking with cell phones, the use of the Internet, to abuse women and to create emotional violence against young women.
[Cooper:] Denise, we have a "Text 360" question from a viewer, Lilibeth in Edmonds, Washington, who wants to know, besides physical abuse, what other types of abuse are there?
[D. Brown:] There's verbal. There's emotional. There's psychological. There's sexual. There's financial. You know, there's there's, of course, the beating which everybody knows about. But you know, victims of domestic violence that I've come in contact with over the last 15 years since Nicole was murdered, when I started talking about domestic violence, they all say that the verbal, emotional and psychological abuse is what stays with them a lifetime, because the beatings, the bruises go away. And it's that those putdowns, that chipping away at someone's self-esteem that stays with them forever. They don't forget that.
[Cooper:] It isn't...
[Wattleton:] This is a point that I think that's an excellent point that Denise has made. Our research at the Center for the Advancement of Women found that women said that the psychological abuse is far more damaging. And yes, we don't, as a society, intervene until a woman has been physically abused, and usually that is at the time a homicide has been created so or has been perpetrated. So we really have to really elevate the bar in which society takes these situations very seriously, because they do escalate to a very tragic level.
[Cooper:] It's interesting, Denise. A lot of people on the blog saying this was a missed opportunity for Chris Brown. And if he's trying to rehabilitate his image, and if his lawyers thought putting him out there, this would be good for him, that it's a missed opportunity for him to kind of talk to young people. As Faye said, if violence is increasing among young couples...
[D. Brown:] It is.
[Cooper:] ... in their teens and 20s, this seemed to have been a missed opportunity.
[D. Brown:] I totally agree. I think I think they're absolutely right on the money. I think what we need to do is we need to get a lot more education and a lot more awareness out there to the communities. I think that human beings like human life is not even worth anything anymore in our society, which is really sad. We need to tell people you know, educate them that they have choices: to hit or not to hit. And, you know, this is this is actually, it's everybody's doing. It's everybody in society that needs to step up to the plate and say, "Hey, domestic violence is wrong. Hitting is wrong. Verbally abusing someone is wrong." And we need to make that choice whether we're going to do it or not.
[Wattleton:] And I think that also is a rule that applies to women; women being verbally and physically abusive with with their male partner.
[Simpson:] It applies to everybody.
[Wattleton:] We're talking about human relationships, in which there should not be psychological or physical violence.
[Cooper:] We're going to have to leave it...
[D. Brown:] Absolutely. Absolutely.
[Cooper:] Going to have to leave it there. Faye Wattleton, Denise Brown, always good to have you on. Thank you. Good discussion.
[D. Brown:] Thanks.
[Cooper:] Coming up next, a 360 exclusive: kidneys for cash. You're going to meet a man who sells organs for a living, brokering dangerous deals that, as you'll see, can turn deadly. Also tonight, Michael Jackson laid to rest, his burial tomorrow. We've got a preview tonight of the events. We'll be right back.