Singer Rihanna reveals that the infamous 2009 assault by her then boyfriend has made her strong and a better songwriter.

'It actually gave me a lot of liberation. What I mean is, I was able to tap into the personal part of my music. I started to tell stories through my music that were actually my stories,' femalefirst.co.uk. quoted her as saying.

The Umbrella hitmaker was beaten black and blue by then-boyfriend Chris Brown, who is still serving his punishment for the attack. The couple split immediately after the fight.

'(In) my album before that there was still a little bit of protection, there was still an innocence to me. And what that time in my life did was kind of wake people up - it's not all a bed of roses. My life is like yours,' she added.

'It made me look at the world in a much bigger way because my life was suddenly super duper magnified. All eyes were on me. I needed that in my life to know how to say, 'F**k off!' To know how to keep my head high even in the worst of situations. I keep using the word unapologetic, but there's a freedom that has come with all of that. Where you feel like you don't have to make an excuse for being yourself,' she added.