Rihanna

Joyce Hawkins, Chris Brown's mom, took to Twitter right after Rihanna's tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey and posted a series of cryptic messages.

Fans suspect they may have been directed at Hawkins' son's ex-girlfriend, especially after Rihanna spoke extensively about their relationship on OWN.

Fighting tears, Rihanna admitted Sunday that Chris is the "love of my life", that he was her "best friend", that they still love each other and are very close.

Hawkins, who has reportedly remained close to the singer since her relationship with Brown ended in 2009, then posted this series of messages:

• "TELL THE TRUTH AND SET YOURSELF FREE"
• "NOT UNTIL YOU TELL THE TRUTH WILL YOU EVER BE FREE!!!!!! PEACE SOMETIMES COMES WITH A PRICE"
• "DID YOU SAY SOMETHING? DID IT HELP ANYONE?"

Only Joyce knows for sure what she meant and who those Tweets were directed toward, but the timing couldn't have been a coincidence, right?

Some have speculated that Joyce wanted Rihanna to tell the truth - that reports of a rekindled romance may actually be true. What do you think?

Should Chris and Rihanna get back together?

Rihanna still harbors feelings for Chris Brown, and strong feelings at that.

Appearing last night on Oprah's Next Chapter, Rihanna was asked about the status of her relationship with Chris today, and she did not hold back.

More than three years after his brutal attack on her, she says the couple has worked on things ever since his restraining order was dropped.

Rihanna explained to O, "We're very, very close friends. We built a trust again and that's it. We love each other and we probably always will."

Rihanna on Chris Brown: I Still Love Him!

The Barbados native admitted that her feelings toward him were so strong, she was more concerned for Chris than for herself after he beat her.

She says they are NOT together - she mentions he is in a relationship (with Karrueche Tran) - but that it's "awkward" when she sees Chris.

Because "I still love him," she adds, "my stomach drops ... I have to maintain this poker face and understand that it's not going to go away."

Asked by Winfrey whether she believes Chris, who the star describes as her best friend, was a true love for her, Rihanna didn't hesitate.

"Absolutely," she said. "I think he was the love of my life."

Rihanna and Chris Brown: Should they date again?

In her much-anticipated sit-down with Oprah, Rihanna was asked some tough questions about Chris Brown, and answered them all with tearful honesty.

Chris brutally assaulted his then-girlfriend in February 2009 after a huge argument, an altercation that injured her deeply in ways both physical and mental.

Still, she said what she felt most was sympathy towards him.

"It was a weird, confusing space to be in," Rihanna recalled.

Rihanna on Chris Brown Attack

"As angry as I was ... as angry and hurt and betrayed, I just felt like he made that mistake because he needed help. And like who's gonna help him? Nobody is gonna say he needs help. Everybody's gonna say he's a monster without looking at the source."

"And I was more concerned about him."

Rihanna tearfully told Oprah "I lost my best friend" when Brown attacked her, adding that "everything I knew switched in a night."

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Oprah Winfrey may be slipping these days and growing a tad desperate for ratings, but the media mogul is still not afraid to ask tough questions.

Rihanna may often cast herself as edgy and hard, but when relaxed and on her home turf (Barbados), she's not afraid to answer them, candidly.

When asked about the end of her relationship with Chris Brown for Oprah's Next Chapter, Rihanna teared up. "It was embarrassing," she said.

"It was humiliating. I lost my best friend."

"I was resentful. I held a grudge," Rihanna admitted. "I was dark."

Rihanna and Chris Brown have since reconciled, both personally and professionally; the two stars even collaborated on two remixes in early 2012.

Winfrey admitted she was surprised by Rihanna's non-badass nature. "She was thoughtful. She was very emotional. She was vulnerable," she said.

At the same time, "she pushes the edge a lot," as we've seen in her decision to record with Chris again despite his brutal attack on her in 2009.

Rumors persist that the former lovers will get back together again romantically. While that's just speculation, she doesn't shy away from feeding it.

What do you think? Should Rihanna and Chris date again?

Oprah teases that she was completely surprised by Rihanna in her upcoming interview with the singer, airing a week from Sunday (August 19) on OWN.

Based on this preview, she probably won't be the only one.

Clothed, beautifully fresh-faced, always smiling and acting like just a regular girl from Barbados, Rihanna may be risking her risque image with this segment.

"I thought she would have been kind of a bad-ass kind of a rocker hard-edge woman ... nothing could have been farther from the truth," Oprah said.

Rihanna on Oprah's Next Chapter

Winfrey further delves into the complexities of the 24-year-old:

“She was thoughtful … she was very emotional … she was vulnerable. She pushes the edge. She pushes the edge a lot, and there’s a reason for that.”

In one clip, Rihanna admits she's "super-duper afraid of the pedestal that comes from fame," and confesses going through spells of intense loneliness.

Of course, her inner badass has hardly been forgotten.

At one point, Oprah tells Rihanna, “You seem to have a liking to the F-word," eliciting a laugh from the singer, at her family home in the Caribbean.

Should be fun to see a different side to this edgy performer.

Rihanna has been nixed as the face of Nivea products.

No specific reason or action was cited as the reason, but Stefan Heidenreich, the head of the brand, clearly isn't a big fan of the controversial singer.

Heidenreich publicly expressed disapproval with the skin care line's decision to have the sexy star as its public face, saying "Rihanna is a no-go."

"I do not understand how to bring the core brand of Nivea in conjunction with Rihanna. Nivea stands for trust, family and reliability," he added.

Heidenreich told the singer's ads shot last year - see one of our all-time favorite Rihanna pictures above - should have never been released.

Ouch. Tell us how you really feel.

For her part, Rihanna responded by posting a generic head shot of Heidenreich on her Twitter with the caption, "No caption necessary."

So, yeah. That about sums it up.

Eminem, Facebook King. The rapper has that title all to himself after surpassing 60 million "Likes" Wednesday, more than any other living person.

Rihanna and Lady Gaga, who each have huge social media followings of their own, are Liked by about 59.4 million and 53.5 million, respectively.

Despite the fact that fan interaction and writing in first person on Facebook is the #1 way to get shares and Likes, being famous trumps all.

On Eminem's Facebook page, the 39-year-old generally posts links to YouTube videos of his music and interviews, with little or no comment.

According to AppData, Eminem is close to nabbing more than 26,000 "Likes" each day, with Rihanna not far behind with 22,000 "Likes" per day.

Rihanna and Gaga's more engaged approach top Eminem in the "talking about this" metric, however, which measures overall activity on a page.

Eminem has 290,896 people talking about him, while Rihanna has 1,016,304 and Lady Gaga has 1,209,588 ... that's a lot of Little Monsters.

When it comes to Twitter, however, Lady Gaga is the undisputed queen with more than 27 million followers. Justin Bieber has nearly 26 million.

P.S. Please Like THG on Facebook and help us catch Eminem! We're only like 59 million behind! Hey, 872,000 isn't too shabby people.

[Photo: WENN.com]

Did they or didn't they? That's the question concerning Rihanna and Chris Brown this week.

Days after the latter singer's rep shot down reports of this former couple reuniting on a yacht in St. Tropez, an insider tells Us Weekly that the pair DID, indeed, get together.

As Twitter photos have depicted, Rihanna and friends have been shopping and sunning in St. Tropez for awhile now and this source tells the tabloid she "changed her plans" last Friday night after hearing Brown was on his way to the area.

She allegedly called her ex from a satellite phone and arranged to meet him on his ridiculous mode of transportation: a yacht with a submarine, pool and two helicopter landings, which Brown is renting (for $400,000/week) along with Swizz Beatz and Ludacris for a music video shoot.

"Rihanna went and partied hard with the guys on their yacht," the mole claims.

Brown's current squeeze, Karrueche Tran, was also on board the vehicle, according to this source, and may not even have been aware that Rihanna was around. We'd doubt the validity of that report, but did you read the description of the yacht?!?

It's not small.

[Photos: WENN.com]

There is nothing there.

That's the word today from a Chris Brown representative, who has been forced to come out and officially shoot down talk that this singer is spending time with Rihanna in Cannes at the moment. Reports have even said both partied it up on Magic Johnson's yacht.

Rumors of the pair at least hanging out together first cropped up because each has been spotted in France over the past couple days.

But Rihanna is in the area on vacation, while Brown is there for work and is even accompanied by girlfriend Karrueche Tran.

"People are trying to connect them," Brown's rep tells E! News. "Chris is there to shoot a video for Swizz Beatz and with Luda."

Of course, this isn't the first time buzz has circulated around Brown and Rihanna secretly hooking up. It likely won't be the last time, either.

Oh, the sexy irony.

Rihanna posted new bikini pictures of herself and assistant Melissa Forde over the weekend, during the same time period when she also announced her first-ever clothing one, one we presume will cover a lot more of the body than the outfits donned by the singer in these photos:

I’ve been wanting to design my own collection for some time," Rihanna said of the fashion endeavor, which will involve the company River Island and debut in 2013.

"River Island is the perfect partner for me to collaborate with and working with a British, family run business also really appealed to me. I find London really inspiring and River Island loves to have fun with clothes. I’m looking forward to working with them and creating something really special.”

It's unclear when the images above were shot, but they were just released and snapped in Sardinia. Click on each for an enlarged version.