Rihanna shed even more light on her relationship with Chris Brown in her ‘Oprah: The Next Chapter’ interview than even her more die hard Navy members could have expected. In yet another preview of the Aug. 19 episode, RiRi cries as she explains the repercussions Brown’s abuse in February 2009 had on their relationship.

Rihanna’s trauma is evident and heartbreaking to watch. “I lost my best friend,” Rihanna said through tears. “Everything I knew switched in a night, and I couldn’t control that. So I had to deal with that, and that’s not easy for me to understand or interpret,” she said, her sob switching into a sad chuckle. “And it’s not easy to interpret on camera, with the world watching. It was hard for me to even pay attention to my mind and to figure things out, because it became a circus,” she vented.

Like many domestic abuse victims, Rihanna revealed that she was more concerned for Brown than for herself following the media and legal aftermath of the attack that sent her to the hospital instead of the Grammys. However, RiRi’s sentiments don’t necessarily sound solely like those of a survivor, but also like those of someone with an unending well of compassion and empathy, a side of the ‘Hard’ singer fans rarely ever get to see.

“I felt … protective,” she explained. “I felt like, ‘The only person they hate right now is him.’ It was a weird, confusing space to be in, because as angry as I was, as angry, hurt and betrayed, I just felt like he made that mistake because he needed help,” she said. “And now who’s gonna help him? Nobody’s gonna say, ‘He needs help.’ Everybody’s gonna say, ‘He’s a monster’ without looking at the source. I was more concerned about him.”

Rihanna’s full interview with Oprah will air this Sunday, Aug. 19 at 9 PM ET on OWN. You can bet the world will be watching.

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