She left many fans horrified when she reconciled with on/off boyfriend Chris Brown last year.
However, Rihanna is unrepentant about her decision to forgive him for beating her nearly four years ago, admitted she decided to put her emotions first.
Speaking to the new issue of Rolling Stone magazine, the 24-year-old insists their relationship is 'different now' compared to when they originally dated in 2007-2009.
In the interview, Rihanna appears to officially confirm they are an item again following Chris's split from model Karrueche Tran last October.
After Chris was arrested for assaulting Rihanna on the way home from a pre-Grammys party in Los Angeles in February 2009, she admitted she want to punish him, even though she still loved him.
She explains: 'I wanted him to know what it felt like to lose me. To feel the consequences of that. So when that (stuff) came back it hit me like a ton of bricks.
'Like, God, you’ve got to be kidding right now. But I got real with myself, and I just couldn’t bury the way I felt.'
When she decided to give Chris another chance, she knew she would be criticised by fans, friends and the media, but decided to follow her heart.
She said: 'But I decided it was more important for me to be happy, and I wasn’t going to let anybody’s opinion get in the way of that.
'Even if it’s a mistake, it’s my mistake. After being tormented for so many years, being angry and dark, I’d rather just live my truth and take the backlash. I can handle it.'
She insists the relationship between the pair is very different to when they first dated - when Chris was still a teenager.
She explained: 'When you add up the pieces from the outside, it’s not the cutest puzzle in the world. You see us walking somewhere, driving somewhere, in the studio, in the club, and you think you know.
'But it’s different now. We don’t have those types of arguments anymore. We talk about (stuff). We value each other. We know exactly what we have now, and we don’t want to lose that.
'"He doesn't have the luxury of f**king up again, That's just not an option.
'I can't say that nothing else will ever go wrong. But I'm pretty solid in the knowing that he's disgusted by that. And I wouldn't have gone this far if I ever thought that was a possibility.'
Chris remains on probation following the incident, which saw him convicted of felony assault.
...............................................
