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For the first time, Rihanna is openly discussing what has become known as “the Chris Brown incident.” With an in-depth interview with Diane Sawyer set to air on ABC, the pop star is getting the ball rolling with a candid chat with Glamour magazine.

Rihanna explains that it wasn’t just the actual assault that was stressful, but also the subsequent leaking of the photo taken to document her injuries, “It was humiliating; that is not a photo you would show to anybody. I felt completely taken advantage of. I felt like people were making it into a fun topic on the Internet, and it’s my life.”

Of the level of scrutiny she faced after the news broke, she says, “I felt like I went to sleep as Rihanna and woke up as Britney Spears. That was the level of media chaos that happened the next day.”

Luckily, however, there’s a happy ending to this story, and Rihanna is being honored at Glamour’s annual Women of the Year event at New York’s Carnegie Hall.