Chris Brown‘s 2009 arrest for bodily assaulting then-girlfriend Rihanna was only the start of his ongoing authorized points.
Brown rose to stardom after releasing his studio album in 2005. His second album, which was launched two years later, featured his hit track “Kiss Kiss,” which put Brown on the trail to being the “King of R&B” of his technology.
In 2009, nevertheless, Brown made headlines when he was arrested for bodily assaulting his then-girlfriend Rihanna. He pleaded responsible to the felony cost and served 5 years of probation, along with neighborhood service and home violence counseling. Brown and Rihanna briefly reconciled in 2012 earlier than calling it quits once more one yr later.
“It’s previously, and I don’t need to say, ‘Recover from it,’ as a result of it’s a really severe factor that’s nonetheless related. It’s nonetheless actual,” Rihanna, who now shares two youngsters with ASAP Rocky, instructed Vainness Truthful in 2015. “A variety of ladies, loads of younger ladies, are nonetheless going by way of it. A variety of younger boys, too. It’s not a topic to brush below the rug, so I can’t simply dismiss it prefer it wasn’t something, or I don’t take it severely. However, for me, and anybody who’s been a sufferer of home abuse, no one desires to even keep in mind it.”
Chris Brown and Rihanna confronted some severe ups and downs of their relationship earlier than they known as it quits. The guy pop stars initially met as youngsters in 2004, but it surely wasn’t till 4 years later that Brown and Rihanna sparked romance rumors. Brown was charged in 2009 for bodily assaulting Rihanna. He pleaded responsible to […]
Brown addressed the arrest — and the pictures of Rihanna’s accidents — in his 2017 documentary, Welcome to My Life, saying, “I look again at that image and I’m like that’s not me, bro, that’s not me. I hate it to at the present time. That’s going to hang-out me perpetually.”
Brown has continued to face authorized troubles since, together with a restraining order filed by his ex Karrueche Tran, a number of claims of sexual assault from a number of girl that he has denied and extra. Scroll down for a timeline of Brown’s authorized troubles through the years:
2009
One yr after they went public with their relationship, Rihanna known as the police after being attacked by Brown. The singer was booked on felony felony threats fees earlier than posting $50,000 bail and later pleaded responsible. After accepting a plea deal, Brown was ordered to finish neighborhood labor, 5 years probation and home violence counseling. A decide additionally issued a restraining order on the time, but it surely was relaxed in 2011 after Brown and Rihanna’s respective authorized seek the advice of requested a “degree one” order so the previous couple may seem at awards reveals collectively.
Brown and Rihanna briefly reconciled after engaged on a number of songs collectively, however known as it quits for good in 2013.
2010
Brown was denied a visa to tour within the U.Okay. after his arrest.
“We reserve the appropriate to refuse entry to the U.Okay. to anybody responsible of a severe felony offense,” the U.Okay.’s dwelling workplace mentioned in an announcement on the time. “Public security is considered one of our major issues. Every utility to enter the UK is taken into account on its particular person deserves.”
2011
Whereas selling his 2011 album F.A.M.E. (Forgiving All My Enemies), Brown received upset when Good Morning America host Robin Roberts introduced up his assault of Rihanna and the relaxed restraining order. ABC Information confirmed that after the interview, Brown confronted the section producer earlier than destroying a dressing room window when he threw a chair by way of it.
“As all the time, we ask questions which are related and newsworthy, and that’s what we did on this interview,” the community wrote in an announcement.
Brown, in the meantime, wrote a since-deleted submit through X, which learn, “I’m so over individuals bringing this previous s— up!!!” He shortly walked the remark again with a brand new assertion, writing, “All my followers!!! This album is for you and solely you!!! I’m so uninterested in everybody else!! Actually!! I really like staff breezy!!”
Investigation Discovery’s latest tell-all addressed Chris Brown‘s historical past of abuse allegations — so why is Sean “Diddy” Combs talked about a number of occasions within the documentary? Chris Brown: A Historical past of Violence, which aired on Sunday, October 25, is a part of the community’s No Excuse for Abuse marketing campaign, which shines a light-weight at advanced dynamics of intimate […]
June 2012
Brown was concerned in a brawl with Drake at a New York Metropolis nightclub that left eight individuals injured — together with NBA star Tony Parker. Drake was not arrested whereas Brown’s lawyer claimed Drake was the instigator.
Drake and Brown labored out their points earlier than they appeared in a skit collectively on the 2014 ESPY Awards. They later poked enjoyable on the brawl within the music video for Brown’s 2019 track “No Steerage,” which featured Drake.
September 2012
Whereas conducting his neighborhood service, Brown examined constructive for hashish and appeared earlier than a decide to find out whether or not he had violated the phrases of his court docket order. He was given a warning from Los Angeles Superior Courtroom Decide Patricia Schnegg, who referred to him as a “rode mannequin” through the listening to. Brown’s probation formally ended three years later.
January 2013
An altercation between Brown and Frank Ocean over a parking area led to police involvement. The authorities investigated Brown for “battery” after he allegedly punched Ocean and threatened to shoot him, in line with an incident report obtained by TMZ on the time. Ocean selected to not press fees.
July 2013
Brown’s probation was revoked after his involvement in an alleged hit-and-run incident. The fees had been finally dropped after a settlement was reached, and Brown served a further 1,000 hours of neighborhood service.
October 2013
Brown was arrested for felony assault and spent 36 hours in jail after he refused to take an image with a person earlier than subsequently breaking the person’s nostril. The cost was diminished to easy assault misdemeanor and Brown was launched with out bail and ordered to remain at the very least 100 yards away from the person he was accused of assaulting.
Brown later pleaded responsible to the assault and admitted to misdemeanor assault and was sentenced to time served. He spent two days in a District of Columbia jail after talking out on the listening to, throughout which Brown mentioned, “I want to say to the court docket that I’m sorry.”
The musician’s attorneys in the end launched an announcement on his behalf. “We’re happy with the end result of right this moment’s court docket proceedings,” learn their assertion. “Mr. Brown’s responsible plea lastly places to relaxation a case that has been pending for nearly a yr. At present’s end result will enable Mr. Brown to focus his consideration again on his music and his profession.”
March 2014
Shortly after his 2013 arrest, Brown voluntarily entered a rehab facility earlier than he was in the end kicked out for violent conduct. Brown’s probation officer claimed Brown smashed his personal mom’s automobile window throughout a household session. Brown was sentenced to 3 months at a live-in anger administration rehab facility, the place he was identified with bipolar dysfunction and post-traumatic stress dysfunction.
Brown was faraway from the Malibu therapy facility as a result of he violated the ability’s “inner” guidelines. The singer was subsequently arrested and sentenced to 131 days in jail for probation violation.
He was launched early from jail in June 2014, however remained on probation and was ordered to finish his remaining neighborhood service and see a psychiatrist twice per week.
January 2015
Brown’s probation was revoked after he traveled to a nightclub in San Jose, California for a non-public efficiency that resulted in gunfire and 5 individuals getting shot. One month later, Brown was denied entry into Canada primarily based on his felony historical past earlier than he was set to carry out two reveals.
Celeb feuds are so charming that there’s even an award-winning Ryan Murphy anthology TV sequence dedicated to the subject. Whereas some A-list beefs appear inevitable — Nicki Minaj vs. Cardi B, for instance, or Jef Holm vs. Arie Luyendyk Jr. — others appear to return out of nowhere. Freddie Prinze Jr., as an illustration, spoke ailing […]
Could 2015
A misdemeanor battery case in Las Vegas named Brown as a suspect after a person claimed he was hit by Brown throughout an argument over a basketball recreation on the Palms On line casino Resort. The alleged sufferer declined to press fees and Brown denied any involvement within the incident.
“Chris is presently in Las Vegas as he’s acting at Drai’s on [Tuesday] and receiving a key to the Strip that day as properly,” Brown’s publicist mentioned in an announcement on the time. “He has a collection on the lodge that has a basketball court docket and invited associates to return play. An unruly particular person confirmed up uninvited and was faraway from the premises. Chris was not in an altercation with this particular person.”
January 2016
Brown was investigated by police in Las Vegas after Liziane Gutierrez claimed she was “punched within the face” by the singer throughout a celebration. She filed a report on the time of the alleged incident, however the Las Vegas police division determined to not press fees.
Gutierrez claimed in Investigation Discovery‘s documentary about Brown in 2024 that she was provided a settlement.
“Chris Brown’s lawyer denied these allegations,” learn an announcement within the doc. “He claims he by no means laid a hand on Liziane Gutierrez who he mentioned was escorted from the premises after turning into disruptive and uncontrolled and had been beforehand accused of comparable conduct in different situations.”
June 2016
Brown was sued by his supervisor Michael Guirguis for alleged assault, which was settled out of court docket three years later.
August 2016
Brown was arrested on suspicion of assault with a lethal weapon after a girl known as the police claiming he had allegedly threatened her with a gun. In keeping with the Los Angeles Occasions, fees had been by no means filed after a nine-hour standoff between the authorities and Brown at his Los Angeles residence.
April 2017
Whereas in Florida, Brown was accused of hitting a membership photographer throughout a paid look. The person claimed Brown attacked him, however the performer was not arrested on the time. One yr later, Brown was charged for felony battery in relation to the incident. The Tampa Bay Occasions reported that the cost was dropped in 2019 due to “inadequate proof to prosecute.”
June 2017
Brown began relationship Tran after his cut up from Rihanna, however the pair briefly known as it quits when the singer reconciled with Rihanna in 2012. Brown and Tran later reunited and stayed collectively till 2014. In 2017, Tran filed for a restraining order in opposition to Brown, citing allegations of bodily abuse. The order was later prolonged however Brown denied the allegations on the time.
Some {couples} simply want a break every so often! Click on by way of to see which of your favorites {couples} — like Jessica Biel and Justin Timberlake — could not assist splitting and rekindling yr after yr.
Could 2018
An unidentified girl sued Brown and two different individuals for sexual battery, battery and assault and intentional infliction of emotional misery after she was allegedly held down and sexually assaulted within the singer’s dwelling. Brown’s authorized staff denied the claims and police didn’t press any fees on account of a scarcity of proof. Jane Doe filed a civil swimsuit, which was settled out of court docket in 2020.
December 2018
Brown was charged with two felony counts of getting a restricted species within the type of a capuchin monkey in his dwelling with no allow. The California Division of Fish and Wildlife eliminated the monkey from Brown’s home and filed proof with the LA Metropolis Lawyer, who then filed fees.
Prosecutors in the end dropped fees in opposition to Brown after he agreed to forfeit his rights to the animal and pay $35,000 for the monkey’s care, in line with AP Information.
2019
Brown was accused by one other girl of aggravated rape, which brought on him to be detained in Paris. He denied the claims after which sued her for defamation after the probe was dropped.
April 2021
Brown’s former housekeeper filed a lawsuit after his Caucasian shepherd allegedly attacked her sister at his Los Angeles dwelling. In keeping with the lawsuit, the sufferer’s accidents required a number of days within the hospital and two surgical procedures.
A decide later pushed the trial again to September 2023 after the sufferer had not but undergone medical examinations associated to the accidents. Brown’s former housekeeper accused him of failing to point out up for deposition in paperwork filed in September 2024, in line with The Blast. She demanded the court docket present a date for a listening to to handle a number of loopholes within the case.
June 2021
The Los Angeles police responded to a name from a girl at Brown’s dwelling who claimed a person struck her at the back of the top. A number of retailers recognized Brown because the suspect, however he was not at his dwelling when the authorities arrived.
October 2021
Brown was sued by a U.Okay. music label who accused him of stealing components of Crimson Rat’s 1997 monitor “Tight Up Skirt” for his 2017 track “Privateness.” Brown subsequently reached a settlement with the corporate. He was additionally beforehand sued for comparable claims that he stole points of different artists’ music to be used in his songs “Tablets and Vehicles” and his duet with Drake, “No Steerage.” These circumstances had been later dismissed.
2022
A Jane Doe filed a $20 million lawsuit in opposition to Brown alleging that he drugged and raped her. She recalled attending a celebration on a ship the place Brown allegedly provided her a number of drinks. The Jane Doe claimed she began to really feel unusual, in order that they went someplace extra personal on the boat the place she alleged Brown proceeded to rape her.
Lawyer Ariel Mitchell initially took on the case, however subsequently dropped it after Miami Seashore police shared months of textual content messages between Brown and Jane Doe after the incident. The sufferer, for her half, maintained that the sexual assault occurred and she or he continued to maintain involved with Brown as a result of she struggled to return to phrases with what occurred. Brown denied any wrongdoing and a decide dismissed the case in 2022.
Brown responded to the claims through Instagram Tales in January 2022, writing, “I HOPE Y’ALL SEE THIS PATTERN OF each time I’m releasing music or tasks ‘THEY’ attempt to pull some actual bulls—.”
The alleged sufferer spoke out in Investigation Discovery‘s October 2024 tell-all about Brown, saying, “Chris Brown raped me. I can say that and I do know it for a reality as an alternative of telling myself it wasn’t. … Most women could be completely happy to have intercourse with Chris Brown. I didn’t need that. This isn’t what I wished.”
Whereas Hollywood might seem like all glitz and glam on the floor, the trade has seen its justifiable share of scandals by way of the years. The New York Occasions and the New Yorker first printed investigative items in 2017 that accused disgruntled film producer Harvey Weinstein of a long time of sexual assault and harassment. Quickly after, Weinstein stood trial and was […]
October 2023
A lawsuit accused Brown of allegedly beating up Abe Diaw at a London nightclub. In keeping with the lawsuit, Brown was “beating” Diaw within the head with “crushing blows” and knocked him unconscious. Brown then allegedly “continued to ruthlessly stomp” on him for “30 seconds.”
Diaw, allegedly “ended up within the hospital with lacerations on his head and torn ligaments in his leg” and the incident left him with “everlasting” injury and “extreme emotional misery.”
Brown’s reps didn’t publicly reply to the lawsuit on the time of the submitting.
July 2024
Us Weekly confirmed in July that Brown and members of his entourage had been sued for $50 million amid claims of a “violent assault” in opposition to 4 concertgoers. The lawsuit included a brief restraining order in opposition to Brown on behalf of the 4 concertgoers — Larry Parker, Joseph Lewis, Charles Bush and Damarcus Powell — who had been searching for $50 million in compensation for damages. Brown’s authorized staff denied the allegations on the time.
The plaintiffs had been awarded a brief restraining order from Brown and the opposite named defendants. The solid has not but proceeded to trial.
That very same month, a workers member and head of again safety at Dickies Enviornment named Frederick R. Overpeck sued Brown over the identical incident for $15 million. Overpeck claimed he tried to guard the 4 males who had been allegedly assaulted and consequently sustained extreme accidents that prevented him from returning to work.
A Dallas lawyer representing Brown launched an announcement in August 2024 about how his shopper “by no means initiated bodily contact with anybody.” Lawyer Levi McCathern II claimed the alleged victims approached Brown with “a transparent agenda.”
“They had been searching for bother and are instantly chargeable for the scenario that ensued,” McCathern said. “Chris was unjustly focused on this incident. These people noticed him as a chance for monetary achieve and will by no means have been permitted backstage within the first place. The entire episode was clearly a arrange.”
January 2025
Brown filed a $500 million lawsuit in opposition to Warner Bros. Discovery, accusing the corporate of defamation in a current docuseries. He claimed that WBD and manufacturing firm Ample Leisure knowingly included false allegations of sexual assault in opposition to him in Investigation Discovery’s Chris Brown A Historical past of Violence.
“To place it merely, this case is in regards to the media placing their very own income over the reality,” learn an announcement from Brown’s authorized staff. “Because the starting of October of 2024, Ample LLC and Warner Brothers had been placed on discover that they had been selling and publishing false data of their pursuit of likes, clicks, downloads and {dollars} and to the detriment of Chris Brown. In the end, on October 27, 2024, they aired ‘Chris Brown: A Historical past of Violence’ (the ‘Documentary’), understanding that it was filled with lies and deception and violating fundamental journalist rules.”
Brown accused WBD and codefendant Ample — who didn’t deal with the lawsuit on the time — of libel and intentional infliction of emotional misery.
Could 2025
Chris Brown performs at FNB stadium Per-Anders Pettersson/Getty Photos
Brown was arrested in Manchester, England in Could 2025 on suspicion of grievous bodily hurt in reference to a bottle-throwing incident from 2023, reviews TMZ.
The “Without end” singer is accused of moving into an altercation with music producer Abe Diaw at Tape nightclub in London’s Mayfair neighborhood in February 2023. Brown is alleged to have attacked Diaw with a bottle through the encounter.
Diaw’s lawyer instructed the web site, “We will affirm that Chris Brown was concerned in an incident with our shopper, and the accidents sustained are severe. We’re pursuing all authorized cures to carry him accountable. At the moment, we’ll let the details communicate for themselves by way of the right authorized channels.”
Following his arrest in Could, Brown pleaded not responsible to a cost of trying to trigger grievous bodily hurt throughout a London court docket look in June 2025.
Brown faces additional fees of assault occasioning precise bodily hurt and possession of an offensive weapon, the BBC reports. He’s anticipated to enter his plea on these two fees on July 11. He faces trial in October 2026.
If you happen to or somebody you already know are experiencing home violence, please name the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 for confidential help.
If you happen to or somebody you already know have been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).