Velvet-voiced R&B singer Chris Brown had a reputation for boorish behavior long before he allegedly beat his girlfriend, Rihanna, his former stepfather said yesterday.
“He did have a very mean streak. He was very spoiled. If he didn’t get his way, he would fight a lot in school,” said Donelle Hawkins, who raised the singing sensation from ages 5 to 12.
“When his mom and dad separated, he got so angry he ran out to the car and took my whole stack of CDs and threw them into the woods like Frisbees,” he said.
Another time, Brown got “so angry he threw a shoe at me and hit me. It gave me a glimpse of his demeanor.”
Brown, 19, and Hawkins, 34, have long been estranged. In interviews, Brown accused Hawkins of physically abusing his mother.
“I hate him to this day,” Brown told Giant magazine in 2007.
Hawkins, who is blind and lives in a modest home outside Richmond with his new fiancée and her daughter, denied he ever raised a hand to Brown’s mother, Joyce.
“It’s an outright lie,” he said. “He’s a talented young man. He made a tragic mistake and needs to take responsibility. He is very bright. Now the focus point should be on getting help and stop pushing the blame on me or anyone else.”
Browns’ is temper apparently has gone unchecked for years.
In 2007, police were called to a Miami hotel room where he was staying because he was “screaming and throwing dishes,” according to Life & Style Weekly.
“He was fighting with his mom. Neighboring hotel guests alerted security and they came upstairs to the room, saw the broken dishes and the mess, and then asked his mother to leave the room. Police were then called, but charges were not filed as Chris simply paid the hotel bill and left the hotel,” the magazine quoted a source as saying.
Messages left with Brown’s rep were not returned.
Brown is free on $50,000 bail after his arrest for allegedly leaving Rihanna bruised and bloodied during a fight following a pre-Grammy party in LA.
It was reported yesterday her mentor, superstar Jay-Z, is fuming over her treatment – and one of his buddies said “Chris is a walking dead man.”
It may not be the first time Brown has gotten rough with the Barbados-born beauty. In December, friends said they noticed bruises on her neck and were concerned, Us Weekly reported.
“I asked if everything was OK with her and Chris,” a pal told the magazine. “She told me, ‘We broke up again.’ I didn’t pursue the issue further.”
Rihanna was forced to cancel yet another concert while she recovers from her injuries – this one slated for tonight in Jakarta, Indonesia.
News of the arrest has already hurt Brown’s marketability. He has been dumped from two ad campaigns and radio stations around the country are pulling his songs, like “Kiss, Kiss,” and “Forever,” out of rotation.
Still, Brown’s defenders spoke up yesterday. “He feels very bad that something like this has happened,” longtime wardrobe stylist Mike B. told People magazine.
He feels bad, another unidentified friend said, “about it coming out the way that it happened, the way he went about it, the way she went about it. . .”