Chris Brown’s history of violence revisited in new documentary

By Elizabeth Wagmeister and Dan Heching, CNN

(CNN) — Chris Brown’s history of violence is back in the spotlight with a new documentary focusing on years-old accusations against the singer, including his 2009 assault of Rihanna. The documentary also highlights a rape claim from a woman who previously sued Brown for allegedly drugging and assaulting her in 2020, during what she described as a yacht party hosted by Sean “Diddy” Combs.

The documentary — “Chris Brown: A History of Violence,” which aired Sunday night on Investigation Discovery — marked the first time this Jane Doe has sat down for an interview to discuss her allegations. (CNN and Investigation Discovery share a parent company.)

The woman initially brought forth her allegations in a $20 million lawsuit in 2022, which was dismissed by a judge that same year, citing lack of prosecution. The Miami Beach Police concluded that the report was unfounded and that no probable cause existed to arrest Brown on criminal charges, according to the documentary, which stated that the case was closed.

The accuser, who appears in silhouette in the documentary to shield her identity, explains in her televised interview that she is speaking out to “shed light on what really happened.”

“Unless people start speaking up and people actually stop victim blaming the people that do speak up, then that’s the only way he can be stopped,” Doe said.

Doe states in the documentary that in December 2020, she was invited by a friend to a New Years party hosted by Combs on a yacht, where she claims she was drugged and raped by Brown.

Levi McCathern, an attorney for Brown, did not respond to CNN’s requests for comment. McCathern told Investigation Discovery that Doe’s claims are “entirely fabricated” and called the documentary “malicious and false.”

Combs was not named as a defendant in Doe’s lawsuit and no allegations are made against him in the documentary. He is currently detained in federal custody while awaiting trial on criminal sex trafficking and racketeering charges. Combs has pleaded not guilty.

Representatives for Combs did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.

“I see Diddy. He welcomes us, he’s really nice,” Doe recalled of her arrival at the party in the documentary. Doe said Brown greeted her and she was excited to meet the star to discuss her career aspirations as a dancer. Brown handed Doe a drink, which she consumed, she said in the documentary.

“I did start to feel like just kind of tired and my body was just feeling like a little heavy or whatever. And he was just like, ‘Yeah, it’s kind of loud out here. Do you want to go towards the back?’” Doe recalled. She said Brown then directed her to a bedroom on the vessel, where Doe said she felt increasingly incapacitated and unable to move before he allegedly assaulted her.

Brown later put his number in Doe’s phone. Doe alleges that he texted to ask her to take a Plan B emergency contraception pill, which she did. Speaking today, Doe said she was “disgusted” at the time, but did not have the tools to process what had happened to her.

“My brain was just like really trying to rationalize what just happened,” she said. “I didn’t want anyone to know. I was just so embarrassed.”

In therapy, Doe said she realized that she had been sexually assaulted.

“Chris Brown raped me. And I can say that, and I know it for a fact instead of telling myself that it wasn’t,” Doe said in the documentary. “It was rape.”

According to the documentary, Brown’s lawyers submitted text messages to the Miami Beach police that showed Doe remained in touch with the singer and sent him sexual messages. Doe acknowledged their continued communication, explaining in the documentary that since she was initially in denial about the alleged assault, she continued to speak to him.

“I was actually really hurt, so I was still trying to salvage what could happen….Maybe I just do need to get more clarity, and that’s why I still did continue to talk to him,” Doe said in the film.

The documentary features domestic violence experts who explain typical behaviors of sexual assault victims, including remaining in contact after an assault or trying to rationalize an assault to help get rid of fear and shame. The experts discussed power imbalances between high-profile alleged perpetrators and accusers.

“I wish it didn’t happen. I wish I could go back and never go back on that yacht and just be a normal girl and not have to go through all of this, but I did,” Doe said in the documentary.

A history of legal trouble

When Brown burst onto the music scene in 2005 at the age of 16, his talent was touted as “the new Michael Jackson.” Despite numerous legal run-ins in the years since, the musician has continued with a successful career.

Brown’s legal troubles began in 2009, when Los Angeles police responded to a 911 call that a woman was assaulted on a Hollywood street just after midnight on February 8. They found Brown’s then-girlfriend Rihanna, who was 20 at the time, with a badly bruised face. Brown, then 19, turned himself into police hours before he and Rihanna were to perform at the Grammys. He publicly apologized a week after his arrest, and was formally charged with felony counts of assault and making criminal threats the following month. He agreed to a plea deal that included five years’ probation, 1,400 hours of “labor-oriented service” and a counseling program.

“Chris Brown is an amazing and talented musician, but let’s call a thing a thing: I think he’s an abuser of women — consistently, unapologetically,” Sergeant Cheryl Dorsey, a 20-year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department, said in the documentary.

A representative for Rihanna did not respond to CNN’s request for comment regarding her assault being revisited in the project.

Three years after he attacked Rihanna, a woman filed a police report against Brown, accusing him of grabbing her iPhone after she used it to take a photo of the singer in a car on a Miami street in February 2012. The report prompted a police investigation that could have threatened Brown’s probation, but no charge was ever filed.

The following year, a different woman accused Brown of assaulting her at an Anaheim, California, nightclub in June 2013. Brown’s rep told CNN the accusation was “totally false and unfounded.” Anaheim police investigated, but did not file charges against Brown.

In July 2013, Brown’s probation was revoked after he was accused of hit-and-run driving and driving without a license. A woman told investigators Brown “went ballistic” after a traffic accident and screamed at her. The charges were dropped after Brown reached a “civil compromise” with his accuser a month later. Brown’s probation was reinstated afterwards.

In October of that year, Brown and a bodyguard were accused of assaulting a man on a Washington, DC sidewalk. The man said Brown punched him in the face, the police report said. Brown was released from jail the next day.

Brown entered a Malibu, California, rehab facility at the end of that month, but was ordered to return to rehab in November after it was revealed he had acted violently during his first rehab stint, resulting in his dismissal. Brown stayed in the second rehab program throughout much of his trial for the DC assault, but was taken into custody again in March 2014 for allegedly violating various rehab rules.

In May 2014, Brown appeared in court for a probation violation hearing, where he admitted to violating his probation and was ordered by a judge to serve one year in jail. In September of that year, he pleaded guilty to simple assault in the case stemming from the Washington sidewalk skirmish. He was sentenced to time served and had to pay a $150 fine.

In August 2016, Los Angeles police swarmed Brown’s home after a woman accused him of pulling a gun on her there. Brown was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and released on $250,000 bail. He denied the allegations at the time and no charges were ever filed, according to People.

Brown’s ex-girlfriend, “Claws” actress Karrueche Tran, obtained a five-year restraining order against him in 2017, alleging he had threatened her with violence. While attorneys for Brown contested the petition, he did not comment on it at the time, according media reports.

Investigation Discovery’s documentary coincides with National Domestic Violence Awareness Month. It is produced with the global domestic violence initiative, No More, and is airing as part of the network’s “No Excuse for Abuse” campaign and commitment to domestic violence survivors.

The documentary’s release, coming on the backdrop of criminal charges against Combs and raising questions about societal views towards domestic violence victims, could generate a conversation — yet again — surrounding Brown’s past.

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