Chris Brown may be the most talented star of the last two generations. He’s certainly been one of the most talked about. As brilliant as he’s been as an entertainer, controversy has been an all too frequent dance partner for him for almost a decade now. And while his fan support has never wavered and the hits keep coming, Brown’s personal trials and court-mandated ones have taken a toll on the 28-year-old. In his new documentary, Chris Brown: Welcome To My Life, produced by Andrew Listerman and Riveting Entertainment, the singer is more candid than he’s ever been about the headlining events he’s been enveloped in.
At the beginning of the film, Brown goes into heavy detail like he’s never done before about his and Rihanna’s relationship. While talking about meeting Rihanna when he was 15 years old and being attracted to her Bajan accent, he delves into how the two young superstars developed a friendship and later a full-on relationship.
“‘Let’s just do it. Let’s be boyfriend and girlfriend,’” Brown says in the doc, thinking back to when he asked Rihanna to solidify their bond. “‘I’m ready for real. I think I love you.’”
Brown reveals that he loved Rihanna so much he wanted to marry her, but the two had to deal with extreme fame at such an early point in their lives and careers.
“Our power at that age was dangerous,” Brown reflected. “We couldn’t go to a hotel without 100,000 people waiting outside.”
From there, Breezy dives into the tumultuous side of their relationship which was sparked by broken trust and how things would frighteningly get physical.
“We would fight each other,” he explained, telling viewers that they would both hit each other.
Brown then focuses on the darkest day of his life, February 7, 2009. It was the night he and Rihanna got into a fight after leaving Clive Davis’ annual pre-Grammy party. Brown later pled guilty to felony assault charges about a month later.
“She grabs my nuts; when she does that, I bite her arm,” Brown explained in the movie. He expressed more feelings of remorse and said he’s still haunted by what transpired.
The singer says he was so broken, he contemplated suicide. And in another chapter of the film, Brown talks about contemplating homicide. As a child, he wanted to kill one of his mother’s boyfriends that terrorized Chris’ family.
“I had to hear my mom get beat every night,” he reflects in the documentary.
Welcome To My Life also explores Brown’s relationship with Karrueche Tran and the love of his life, his daughter Royalty.
Jennifer Lopez, Mary J. Blige, Mike Tyson, Jamie Foxx, DJ Khaled and Usher all appear in the movie and give their perspectives on Brown as a man and performer.
“No matter what you think about Chris Brown, when he starts to dance and sing, he has that light,” Foxx says in the movie.
“It shows you everything, the good, the bad and the ugly,” Brown said last week, talking to Empire magazine at the world premiere of the documentary.