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Most people (especially women) will remember the day that the news came out that Chris Brown had assaulted his then-girlfriend, Rihanna.
The photo of the singer’s bruised and beaten face is forever ingrained in the consciousness of many of us.
While many assume they knew what happened in 2009 the night before the Grammys, the brutal details are laid bare in a new documentary, Chris Brown: A History of Violence.
In a police report relayed in the film, Rihanna said Brown repeatedly punched her while he was driving before he choked her until she was nearly unconscious and then threatened to “kill” her.
After she fled his Lamborghini, Rihanna screamed for someone to help her.
Brown was charged with felony assault and making criminal threats. He pled guilty to a felony and accepted a plea deal of community labor, five years probation and domestic violence counseling.
The public fallout was immediate. Brands severed ties with Brown and the ‘Run It’ singer’s career took a nosedive, well, temporarily.
Brown and Rihanna would have an on-again-off-again relationship for the following four years before calling it quits for good in 2013.
Chris Brown and Rihanna attended the 2013 Grammys as a couple. Image: Getty.
But what about the woman who came after Rihanna? What about the woman who didn’t have a hit album soaring up the charts?
“What happened with Rihanna happened with a famous person, and there were visuals for us to look at,” cultural critic Scaachi Koul says in the film.
“With everybody else, you can just say, ‘oh, it’s bullshit. She lied. And they will give me the benefit of the doubt before they give it to some woman they’ve never heard of before.’”
This woman was rising actress Karrueche Tran.
Brown and Tran began dating in 2010 — months after the singer assaulted Rihanna.
They dated for the next five years on and off when he wasn’t back with Rihanna, and then broke up in 2015 after Tran discovered that Brown had fathered another woman’s baby.
But this wasn’t the end of Karrueche Tran’s story.
In 2017, Tran obtained a five-year domestic violence restraining order against her ex, alleging he had threatened her with violence.
According to a report in TMZ at the time, Tran claims Brown repeatedly threatened to kill her in text messages sent to her directly or to her friends. She alleged that her ex-partner “told a few people that he was going to kill me” and has allegedly threatened to “take me out” or “shoot me.”
In a statement to the judge, she alleged that while Brown was on probation for assaulting his ex-girlfriend Rihanna, he was physically abusing Tran.
She claimed that he “punched me in my stomach twice” and “pushed me down the stairs.”
Brown was ordered to cease all contact with Tran and her family, stay 100 yards away from her, surrender all firearms in his possession, and attend domestic violence intervention classes.
Before the restraining order, Brown posted a rambling threatening video on Instagram at the time in 2017, when he told the camera: “If I love you b*tch, ain’t nobody [else] going to have you. I’m going to make you miserable.”
Earlier that year, Brown had threatened to fight Soulja Boy after the rapper liked a photo of Tran on Instagram.
Tran later appeared on the radio show Hot 97‘s Morning Show where she said she sought a restraining order because she had feared for her life.
“I do have the RO [restraining order] in place,” she said. “[It was] for my safety.”
When asked if she was afraid of Brown, she replied “Yeah. It just got to a point where…. I can’t.”
Chris Brown: A History of Violence shines a disturbing lens on the many instances of alleged physical violence and sexual assaults that Brown has been accused by multiple women of committing over the span of decades.
The Investigation Discovery film ended with a discussion on domestic violence, with the special airing as part of the network’s ‘No Excuse for Abuse’ campaign and commitment to domestic violence survivors.
In more recent years, Tran has reflected on her tumultuous past with Brown and how she spent years hiding the alleged abuse.
“I didn’t even talk to my friends about this. They didn’t know, I’d keep it to myself, and then finally I was able to let things be told and speak my voice. It is a refreshing feeling to know that there are other people out there that can relate,” she said on the Poptarts podcast in 2018.
“It’s kind of a scary thing to speak about things like that. [But when it comes to my past,] it is what it is. I can’t run from it. I can’t take an eraser and erase it. I can only grow from here.”
Chris Brown: A History of Violence is available to watch on Binge.
If you or anyone you know needs to speak with an expert, please contact 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) — the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service. If you are in immediate danger, call 000.
Mamamia is a charity partner of RizeUp Australia, a Queensland-based organisation that helps women and families move on after the devastation of domestic violence. If you would like to support their mission to deliver life-changing and practical support to these families when they need it most, you can donate here. You can also donate to their Christmas Appeal here.
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