Shortly before the horrendous meltdown that ate the Grammys, we caught the couple together at the Verizon/BlackBerry party Friday night, where Rihanna performed with Timbaland (hit the clip above to see her arriving).
At that juncture, interesting to point out R was nothing but proud of her Grammy-nominated man. Or was she? Once inside, all didn't seem well in the land of pop romantic fairytales, and C.B.'s "mood swings," according to some chums (more on that shortly), seemed to lead the way for what horrifically went down Saturday night at Boulevard3:
Chris went into the gig and immediately went backstage, presumably to pep up his GF. Before R came out to perform around midnight, Chris seemed to almost storm out from backstage, heading upstairs to the VIP section where Diddy and T.I. were partying it up. Onlookers just assumed he wanted a better seat to view his leading lady, but during the middle of her performance, Diddy & Co. bounced out with Chris suddenly MIA. Strange, huh?
The next night, Saturday, at Clive Davis' bash, Rihanna and Chris, of course, arrived together again, and while inside they seemed cuddly and normal. A friend of Brown's said that Chris had been in a "pissed off" mood all day. No mood justifies what reportedly happened later that night. If it's all true, this dude's career better be cooked.
A pal of Rihanna's said the stunner's face looks like that of a "hockey player," and that she indeed went to the hospital. And what's more heartbreaking is friends of the couple think R is so in love with him she won't press charges. Rihanna, no!
Unfortunately, this, to us, screams the question of whether or not there's a pattern of abuse in the couple's past, as Brown has made plain was the case with his own mother and stepfather. Even friends of Brown's at last night's quasi-glittery awards were overheard saying that they really "weren't that surprised" at what is rumored to have gone down. "His moods, man, they're freaky," a good bud of C.B.'s lamented.
Our prayers go out to Ri at this time, and if everything we're hearing is true, we hope Jay-Z teaches that boy a lesson.
—Additional reporting by Taryn Ryder