Rihanna is refusing to dwell on her infamous 2009 assault at the hands of ex-boyfriend Chris Brown, insisting the incident actually empowered her.

The Umbrella hitmaker was beaten black and blue by her former partner on the eve of the Grammy Awards three years ago and he was subsequently convicted of assaulting her.

A restraining order against the Kiss Kiss singer has been dropped but he is still serving community service and probation in relation to the incident - and Rihanna, who recently teamed up with her ex for new track Birthday Cake, is adamant the assault helped her on some levels.

She tells America's Elle magazine: "It gave me guns... they know more about me than I want them to know. It's embarrassing. But that was my opening. That was my liberation, my moment of bring it. I wanted people to know who I am.

"Whatever they take that to be, good or bad, I just want them to know the truth. There are still a lot of rumours out there, and I'll never be able to stop that. But you just have to ignore all that stuff.

"I have more freedom the more people know about me. It's like, one less skeleton in the closet, one less burden, one less secret; now you know that, so you can say what you want about it. I don't have anything to hide."

The singer is also unrepentant about collaborating with Brown on her latest track following concern from some fans, insisting:

"It's very hard for me to accept (the criticism), but I get it. People end up wasting their time on the blogs or whatever, ranting away, and that's all right. I don't hate them for it... (but) tomorrow I'm still going to be the same person. I'm still going to do what I want to do."

> IN PICS: RIHANNA'S STYLE THROUGH THE YEARS

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