Brown had a good relationship with Rihanna

Chris Brown claims he and Rihanna had a "sturdy, great" relationship.

The 20-year-old singer – who was recently sentenced to five years probation and six months community labour for assaulting his on/off girlfriend in February – insists he and Rihanna were very close before the incident.

He said in an interview with US TV talk show host Larry King last night (02.09.09): "Our relationship was pretty good. We had a pretty sturdy and great relationship.

"I'm not saying domestic violence is a part of relationships. We're both young, nobody taught us how to love one another. No one taught us a book on how to control our emotions, our anger.

"I'm not trying to fall on the fact that I'm young. There's a lot of stuff I wish I could have changed that night."

Chris punched, bit and choked Rihanna in his silver Lamborghini car after they began arguing about a text message he had apparently received from an ex-girlfriend.

Chris refused to go into details about the night of the assault, only saying he felt deeply "ashamed" and wished he could alter what had happened.

He was also reluctant to discuss the Miami holiday he and Rihanna took shortly after the event.

During the vacation – when the couple stayed at P. Diddy's villa - Chris drew criticism as he was seen playing with friends and riding jet skis, leading some to argue he was not repentant.

He argued: "It was sort of like a 'Romeo and Juliet' story, like both sides not wanting us to kind of have contact, so we just got away and just wanted to… That's the main reason I was photographed on a jet ski.

"I know I got a lot of flak from that, and other people were like, 'Well, why is he on a jet ski? Why is he just acting like there's no care in the world?' Because I was rekindling my relationship with my friend.

"We did get back to together at that time. I'm pretty sure we can always be friends, and I don't know about our relationship, but I just - I know definitely that we ended as friends."

As part of his punishment, Chris will pick up rubbish and clean graffiti in Virginia.

He said: "I feel like with what I'm capable of doing as far as influencing people, influencing kids, I could do a lot more to help the community other than picking up trash. I'm not saying it's something wrong... but there's a lot more that I could do, inside of our community."

He is also barred from contacting the 21-year-old 'Umbrella' singer for the next five years, which he admits will be "hard and difficult, but fair".