Chris Brown has changed some since beating up then-girlfriend Rihanna back in 2009, yet many still wonder why she allowed him back into her life. She vacationed with Chris Brown just three weeks after he assaulted her.

During a recent interview with Vanity Fair–Rihanna graces the November cover–the “Bitch Better Have My Money” singer dishes on Rachel Dolezal (she supports the former NAACP leader who lied about being a black woman) and she touches on Chris Brown, too.

“Maybe I’m the person who’s almost the guardian angel to this person, to be there when they’re not strong enough, when they’re not understanding the world, when they just need someone to encourage them in a positive way and say the right thing,” she says.

Rihanna explains why she returned to Chris Brown after he abused her: “I was that girl” http://t.co/RDOOf2iUBC via @YahooCelebrity

— Yahoo News (@YahooNews) October 6, 2015

She even admits she believed at one time that she could change Chris Brown.

“A hundred percent. I was very protective of him. I felt that people didn’t understand him,” she says.

At one point becoming someone Chris Brown perceived as his enemy, Rihanna understands how that happened, too.

“You want the best for them, but if you remind them of their failures, or if you remind them of bad moments in their life, or even if you say I’m willing to put up with something, they think less of you,” she says.

Introducing our November cover star, @Rihanna, as shot by Annie Leibovitz in Old Havana http://t.co/z1VDhFuk8G pic.twitter.com/8fIKsTJCar

— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) October 6, 2015

It wasn’t so long ago that Rihanna, Chris Brown, and Karrueche Tran were involved in a love triangle of sorts, but that has long since ended. Now Chris Brown is with neither Karrueche Tran nor Rihanna. He fathered a child–daughter Royalty–with model Nia Guzman during his time with Tran, and she kicked him to the curb.

What’s your take on Rihanna’s insight into Chris Brown? Do you think she was in any way an enabler of his violent, childish behavior?