Breezy Turns 27: Chris Brown's Most Unforgettable Moments
We look at the singer's wild lifestyle.
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Happy Birthday, Breezy! - Chris Brown turns 27 today, and oh what a life it's been. From growing up a choir boy in small town Virginia to signing his first record deal at age 15, his rise as the prince of R&B to his downfall after he was arrested at the age of 19 for beating up his then-girlfriend Rihanna, love triangles, social media rants, jail and an image that evolved from nice guy to bad boy, Breezy has always kept us on our toes. In celebration of his birthday, we look back at Brown's 27 most unforgettable moments. (Photo: Chelsea Lauren/Getty Images for NYLON)
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The Rihanna Era - This one is more of a series of moments — some high, some very low — over the course of the past decade. Breezy and RiRi first entered each others lives in 2005, when both were aspiring pop stars, and made their relationship official in 2008. A year later, things combusted when Brown was arrested for assaulting Rihanna just before the Grammy Awards. That started a cycle of on-again, off-again for these two, who seem like moths to a flame when it comes to each other. (Photo: Christopher Polk/Getty Images for NARAS)
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The Karrueche Era - Very much overlapping with The Rihanna Era was Brown's romance with Karrueche Tran. The aspiring model and designer has always been Breezy's ride-or-die chick, standing by him through the messy love triangle with RiRi, more than one instance of airing their dirty laundry on Instagram and even jail. But when she found out (on the internet, like the rest of us) that Brown had had a "break baby" with model Nia Amey — see below — their relationship was off again for good. Or maybe nothing is "for good" when it comes to Breezy? (Photo: Noam Galai/Getty Images for Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week)
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Break Baby - Sometime in 2014, Brown hooked up with model Nia Amey and the illicit affair resulted in a baby girl named Royalty. The public came to know about Breezy's "break baby" when photos of the child, named Royalty, leaked online. Though the scandal cost Brown his relationship with Karrueche Tran, it did give him something positive to focus on, and we have to say he seems to have lived up to the task. (Photo: Chris Brown via Instagram)
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Broken Window at GMA - On March 22, 2011, after an awkward interview with Robin Roberts on Good Morning America, during which he was asked about the Rihanna situation and a restraining order, Brown allegedly had a meltdown in his dressing room during a commercial break and threw something at a window overlooking Times Square. Brown then took off his shirt and, after several angry confrontations with the segment producer, other show staff and building security, left the building shirtless. Following the incident, Brown posted a message on Twitter saying, "I'm so over people bring this past s**t up!! Yet we praise Charlie Sheen and other celebs for there [sic] bulls**t ." The comment was deleted moments later. Though it's easy to understand Breezy's outrage — he was just there to promote his new album, after all — the outburst was a big setback in his image rehab. (Ph...
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Beef With Frank Ocean - In January 2013, Brown allegedly came to blows with Frank Ocean over a parking space outside a recording studio in West Hollywood. LAPD officers described the incident as battery and said that Brown was under investigation for punching the R&B singer. Ocean said he would not press charges despite his claim that Brown had threatened to shoot him and one of Brown's entourage had called him a homophobic slur. Though the singers kept the incident out of court, they did go at each other in the media.(Photos from Left: Ethan Miller/Getty Images for Clear Channel, Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for The Huffington Post)
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Broken Nose in Washington, D.C. - In October 2013, Brown was arrested for felony assault in the nation's capital after allegedly punching a man in the face and using a homophobic slur (again). The fight supposedly started when Brown was taking a picture with two female fans outside of his hotel and two men photobombed them. Brown then allegedly said, "I’m not into this gay s**t, I’m into boxing," and then broke the nose of one of the men. Though the charges from this incident were later reduced to a misdemeanor, Brown was later thrown in jail for acting up in rehab and violating his parole from his 2009 arrest involving the Rihanna incident.(Photo: Kris Connor/Getty Images)
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Car Accident - In February 2013, Brown was involved in a car crash and blamed it on the most obvious suspects: the paparazzi. A rep for the star said he was "being ruthlessly pursued by paparazzi" at the time of the crash. "Chris' vehicle was totaled due to this aggressive pursuit by the paparazzi. He is okay,” his statement read. The paps, however, said they arrived after Brown had already crashed. "He crashed his car and it’s convenient for him to blame us. He needs to be careful with his defamatory statements," a rep for the shutterbugs said. (Photo: Clint Brewer/Splash News)
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Home Improvement - Graffiti has become a celebrated art form around the world, but not in the Hollywood Hills. Breezy learned this the hard way when his neighbors complained that the murals he painted on the outer walls of his house were scaring their children. The city promptly painted over the works, but Brown filed a complaint, claiming the cover-up job violated his First Amendment rights. He later decided that fighting city hall wasn't worth his time and ended up just selling the multi-million dollar home. (Photo: Owen Beiny/WENN.com)
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Video Confessions - In 2012, the media speculation surrounding Brown's relationship with Rihanna, which appeared to be rekindling despite the fact that he was still with Karrueche Tran, hit a fever pitch. Then, Breezy removed all doubt by posting a video to his social media featuring images of himself, Tran and Rihanna as he pondered, "Is there such thing as loving two people? I don't know if it's possible, but I feel like that." Though the rest of the world thought it was a crazy move, the video worked on both the women. (Photos from Left: Kevin Winter/Getty Images for iHeartMedia, Jason Merritt/Getty Images for iHeartMedia, Jason Merritt/Getty Images)
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Fighting Words - Brown took it back to the schoolyard when he launched into a social media feud with Tamar Braxton last year, claiming he was provoked when Braxton said Breezy's girl Karrueche needed an "intervention" to keep her away from him. The singer lashed out against Braxton, saying, "U take the role of the ugly sister," adding that her plastic surgery "f**ked yo face up," while calling her a "Muppet face a**!" That last diss was the one that really stuck. Braxton admitted that she really took it to heart on a recent episode of The Real.(Photos from Left: Jason Merritt/Getty Images, Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Sony Music Entertainment)
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TMI - Most people can't help but admire Breezy's you-know-what's when it comes to juggling two beautiful women, Karrueche Tran and Rihanna, but even he maybe pushed his luck too far when he revealed on The Breakfast Club last year that his "ultimate boom" would be to knock up both women at the same time. Just...ew. (Photo: The Breakfast Club/Power 105.1 via youtube)
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Throwing Bottles at Drake - In June 2012, Brown got into a scuffle at a New York nightclub involving his nemesis Drake. Breezy was blamed for throwing bottles of champagne at Drake and his entourage, injuring eight people including San Antonio Spurs star Tony Parker, who had to have surgery to remove a piece of glass from his eye. Brown claims Drake started the fight and posted a picture of himself with a gash on his chin to Instagram as proof. A few weeks later, Brown made a diss record about the Toronto rapper. (Photos from Left: FayesVision/WENN.com, Will Alexander/WENN.com)
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Twitter War With Jenny Johnson - Comedienne Jenny Johnson has practically made a career out of bashing Chris Brown for his, according to her, lack of remorse for assaulting Rihanna. One of Johnson's most popular tweets, "Call me old fashioned, but Chris Brown should be in prison," was retweeted 1,869 times. But when Johnson called Brown a "piece of s**t" on social media, he went in. Brown launched an expletive-filled and what many would call sexist rant against Johnson in 2012. He later deleted his account once people started saying he crossed the line. (Photos from Left: Mark Davis/Getty Images for iHeartMedia, Jenny Johnson via Twitter)
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Full-Frontal Nude Photo Leak - Most celebrities are mortified — even litigious — when they spot NSFW pictures of themselves online. Not Breezy. After a full-frontal photo of Brown, who had just stepped out of the shower, leaked in 2011, he shrugged it off and said, "I'm comfortable with my body." Adding that the pic was "definitely sent to a girl," Brown even went so far as to clarify he "wasn't even that excited" in the pic. Look at me now, indeed. (Photo: Ethan Miller/Getty Images for Clear Channel)
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Twitter Feud With Raz B. - By now it should be clear, Breezy is no stranger to popping off on Twitter. One of the singer's classic rants was the one he launched against B2K member Raz B in 2010, just one week after he completed anger management classes stemming from his Rihanna assault case (guess they didn't really work). To be fair, Raz definitely baited Breezy by making fun of his issues with anger, but Brown's response, calling Raz a "d**k in da booty a** lil boy," was not only childish, but many felt homophobic as well. (Photos from Left: Kevin Winter/Getty Images for BET, Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
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Overcome With Emotion at the BET Awards - He's one of the best performers of his generation and Chris Brown left his soul on the stage during his tribute to his own idol, Michael Jackson, at the 2010 BET Awards. After a flawless dance performance, Brown literally got choked up on the lyrics while singing "Man in the Mirror," creating one of the most unforgettable moments in BET Awards history. (Photo: Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)
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Pickup Game Gone Wrong - There's no such thing as friendly competition when it comes to Breezy. A guy named Malcolm Ausbon sued the singer after a fight broke out during a pickup basketball game they were both a part of last summer. Though Ausbon admitted Brown was not part of the actual fight, he still sought $250,000 to compensate for his "pain and suffering" from the singer. Brown countersued, claiming extortion (rightfully, it sounds like), but decided going to court wasn't worth his time. He settled with Ausbon for "four figures" last month.
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Feuding With The Real - Of all the people who have trashed Chris Brown in the media — and there are a lot — we can't figure out why he chose the ladies of The Real and their comparatively innocuous comments about his relationship with Karrueche Tran to call out. Tamar Braxton wasn't the only one who was on the receiving end of Breezy's tirade. Adrienne Bailon also got a piece. Brown called her a "trout mouth a** b***h" and blasted her relationship with Rob Kardashian. "U tried it. Won't [sic] u the same b***h that was f**king wit married men? U also was keeping up with the Kardashians! U can't talk about relationship goals when u don't even have life goals," he wrote. (Photo: Winston Burris/WENN.com)
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Statements on the Ebola Crisis - We don't usually look to Breezy for commentary on world news, but when the Ebola crisis hit its peak, the singer couldn't help but throw in his two cents. "I don't know... But I think this Ebola epidemic is a form of population control. It is getting crazy bruh," he wrote on Twitter. (Photo: Winston Burris/WENN.com)
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Blasting His Own Management for Album Delay - The singer took aim at his own management team in 2013, publicly blaming them for the delay of his album X. “My management is so incompetent at times that they don't communicate,” he tweeted. “So teambreezy.. Blame these Wack n****s for the release being moved.” Of course, Brown took down the tweet almost immediately, but replaced it with one nearly as bad. "Video/single will be released soon. Not gonna tell y'all an exact date becuz I keep getting false info," he later wrote. (Photo: Johnny Louis/WENN.com)
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Confessions on Larry King Live - Brown's first television interview since his arrest for assaulting Rihanna was a somber affair, with Brown telling Larry King that reading the police report of that night was like "reading about a stranger." Brown also admitted in the interview that he still loved his ex, but that a court order demanded he keep his distance. But the most attention came from his blue bow tie, which eventually got its own Twitter account.
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Lighting Up the Screen in 2007's Stomp the Yard - Brown made his big screen debut when he was just 18 years old in this dance-based film, in which he played Columbus Short's little brother. Though he wasn't the lead, it was hard not to take notice of Brown and his talent on the dance floor. (Photo: Rainforest Films)
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Doing His Own Stunts for Takers - Just a few years after Stomp the Yard, Brown expanded his Hollywood resume to include a second role and an executive producer credit on the 2010 thriller Takers. Brown had a supporting role opposite Idris Elba, T.I. and Matt Dillon in the film, for which he endured weeks of martial arts and Parkour training in order to do "96 percent" of his own stunts. (Photo: Michael Buckner/Getty Images)
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Documenting His Journey to Africa - In 2013, Brown opened up like he never had before for an hour-long documentary chronicling his trip to Africa. We got to see Breezy interact with his fans and step outside of his comfort zone, and at the same time share intimate secrets about his personal life in the film. It was definitely Breezy as we've never seen him before and made us all remember why the controversial singer is still a huge talent with a great heart. (Photo: Zomba Recordings)
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Ex-Girlfriend Drama - Though even he would probably admit Karrueche Tran had every reason to leave him after he cheated on her repeatedly and had a baby with another woman, Breezy couldn't really get over his ex — especially when she was seen with another man. Last year, when Tran posted a picture of herself hanging out with model hunk Tyson Beckford, Brown and his crew went into full-on attack mode, threatening him on social media.
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No Sympathy - Breezy once again sounded off on social media last month when R&B singer Kehlani posted about her attempted suicide after rumors that she was cheating on boyfriend Kyrie Irving. Brown felt the need to stick up for his boy Kyrie by bashing Kehlani over the ordeal, which most of his followers found to be in very poor taste.