Rihanna Breaks Silence About Chris

Photo by: Ida Mae Astute / ABC

Nine months after she was attacked by Chris Brown, Rihanna finally opens up about the night that left her bruised and bloody.

"This happened to me. ... It can happen to anyone," the singer, 21, tells Diane Sawyer in an interview airing on US shows Good Morning America on Thursday, Nov. 5, and on 20/20 on Friday.

Rihanna says it was particularly difficult because of the special place Brown held in her heart: "He was definitely my first big love."

Both singers have worked to move on. Brown is serving a community labour sentence in Virginia and working on new music for an album titled Graffiti that will drop on Dec. 15. Rihanna is shaking things up with her edgy fashion and releasing her fourth album, Rated R, on Nov. 23. The album's first single, "Russian Roulette," debuted last week.

Rihanna is also speaking out about her healing process in the US December issue of Glamour magazine.

"My story was broadcast all over the world for people to see," she says. "I went to sleep as Rihanna and woke up as Britney Spears. That was the level of media chaos that happened the next day."

But the past nine months have been a source of growth and strength. "I am stronger, wiser and more aware. You don't realise how much your decisions affect people you don't even know, like fans."