--- title: Chris Brown's Advice to Ray Rice About Domestic Abuse: Get Therapy description: "I’ve been down that road," said the R&B singer, who pled guilty to felony assault of his then-girlfriend Rihanna in 2009 canonical: https://time.com/3341251/chris-brown-gives-ray-rice-advice-so-he-doesnt-become-a-monster/ author: Laura Stampler article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-09-12T20:28:23.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:55:58.482Z og:title: Chris Brown gives powerful advice to Ray Rice so that he doesn't "become a monster" og:description: I’ve been down that road og:url: https://time.com/3341251/chris-brown-gives-ray-rice-advice-so-he-doesnt-become-a-monster/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc46f62d608dd9036/6986a31cadae447d47544ebf/451217062.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Chris Brown Court Date og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Chris Brown gives powerful advice to Ray Rice so that he doesn't "become a monster" twitter:description: I’ve been down that road twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc46f62d608dd9036/6986a31cadae447d47544ebf/451217062.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Chris Brown Gives Ray Rice Advice So He Doesn't 'Become a Monster' by [Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Sep 12, 2014 8:28 PM UTC  Chris Brown enters the H. Carl Moultrie I Court House of the District of Columbia Chris Brown enters the H. Carl Moultrie I Court House of the District of ColumbiaKris Connor—Getty Images by [Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Sep 12, 2014 8:28 PM UTC The indisputable, visual evidence of abuse. The victim’s decision to stay. The high profile nature of what is usually a hushed crime. It was inevitable that Chris Brown’s 2009 assault of then-girlfriend Rihanna would be compared to indefinitely-suspended NFL player Ray Rice’s abuse of then-fiancée, now wife Janay Rice. Although Rihanna hasn’t provided comment, she has been directly impacted by Rice’s abuse. [CBS pulled](http://mashable.com/2014/09/11/rihanna-ravens-game/) her planned performance of “Run This Town” from the NFL pre-game show. Interestingly, it is Brown who has spoken up about Rice’s act of abuse, as a man who has “been down that road before.” The main takeaway? Seek therapy, as Brown does twice a week, or else “you’ll become a monster.” Here’s what Brown said to [MTV News’ Sway Conway Thursday:](http://www.mtv.com/news/1928766/chris-brown-advice-ray-rice-domestic-violence/) --- > “” --- As an act of solidarity with Janay Rice, who has been critiqued for choosing to stay with her husband, thousands of women have courageously shared their stories of abuse and the inherent complexity of their decision not to leave under the [powerful hashtag #WhyIStayed](http://time.com/3307109/twitter-ray-rice-domestic-violence-abuse-whyistayed-whyileft/). [Robin Givens wrote her own account](http://time.com/3319512/ray-rice-nfl-video-robin-givens-domestic-violence/) of staying with an abuser on _TIME._ Hearing directly from abusers, however, is rare. While Brown’s openness does not erase his crimes, it opens up a very important conversation that needs to be had on the other side of the table as well. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3341251/chris-brown-gives-ray-rice-advice-so-he-doesnt-become-a-monster/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3341251/chris-brown-gives-ray-rice-advice-so-he-doesnt-become-a-monster/"},"headline":"Chris Brown Gives Ray Rice Advice So He Doesn't 'Become a Monster'","datePublished":"2014-09-12T20:28:23.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:55:58.482Z","description":"\"I’ve been down that road,\" said the R&B singer, who pled guilty to felony assault of his then-girlfriend Rihanna in 2009","url":"https://time.com/3341251/chris-brown-gives-ray-rice-advice-so-he-doesnt-become-a-monster/","keywords":["Living","abuse","Domestic Abuse","Chris Brown","Rihanna"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc46f62d608dd9036/6986a31cadae447d47544ebf/451217062.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Laura Stampler","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc46f62d608dd9036/6986a31cadae447d47544ebf/451217062.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Chris Brown Court Date","caption":"Chris Brown Court Date","creditText":"Kris Connor—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-living/","name":"Living"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3341251/chris-brown-gives-ray-rice-advice-so-he-doesnt-become-a-monster/","name":"Chris Brown Gives Ray Rice Advice So He Doesn't 'Become a Monster'"}}]}] ```