Chris Brown & Rihanna: A Fairy-Tale Romance Gone Awry

Sunday night, R&B’s hottest couple, Chris Brown and Rihanna, were supposed to light up the Grammys.

Instead, the normally affectionate twosome were embroiled in a domestic violence drama that left Brown, 19, booked on felony criminal threats charges and posting $50,000 bail after turning himself in to the LAPD on Sunday at 6:34 p.m. PST.

Sources say that Rihanna (real name: Robin Fenty), 20, was the victim in the alleged assault which occurred around 12:30 a.m. on Sunday. Responding to a 911 call about a disturbance, the LAPD took statements from a female with visible injuries, who named Brown as her attacker.

Just hours after the incident, witnesses spotted Brown and Rihanna leaving the London Hotel together around 7:30 a.m. on Sunday.

Later that evening, during the Grammy telecast for which both Brown and Rihanna were no-shows, bodyguards for the couple were seen moving their luggage out of the London.

The ramifications of Brown’s arrest? Already charged with making criminal threats – defined in part as a situation where the victim “is in fear for [his/her] life” – the R&B singer may face additional charges at the discretion of L.A.’s district attorney’s office.

To help him face the legal storm, Brown has hired attorney Mark Geragos, best known for defending convicted murderer Scott Peterson, Winona Ryder after a 2001 shoplifting arrest and Michael Jackson during his child molestation trial.

An R&B Romance Turned Sour?

Rumored to be a couple towards the end of 2007, the singers were first photographed at the Grammys on Feb. 10, 2008. Often coy about their yearlong relationship, the two consistently refused to talk about their romance during interviews.

But the pair offered up other signs of their closeness, from matching star tattoos on their necks to holding hands and kissing at concerts.

Even at the Clive Davis party at the Beverly Hills Hilton on Saturday night, Brown and Rihanna looked cozy and happy.

But over recent weeks, they seemed to have hit a bumpy patch in their relationship.

“They’ve been fighting a lot lately,” a source told PEOPLE. “Lots of ups and downs. One second they’re all lovey dovey and then they’re fighting like crazy. They’re both pretty stubborn.”

Jennifer Connelly’s Secret to a Successful Relationship

 

“Neither my husband nor I am interested in mincing words,” she tells the March issue of Glamour of always being up front with hubby-of-six-years Paul Bettany. “If I break something, for example, I have to announce it. I’m a compulsive confessor.”

The actress, who is out stumping for “He’s Just Not That Into You,” believes such candor is “crucial to a relationship. Otherwise, one person holds all the power. It’s healthy to be straightforward, and it turns out you can wind up weathering a lot. Knowing that everything is on the table — what you see is what you get — lends a sense of safety.

There’s also a sense of security in being hitched.

“I had enough time being single to know I have no regrets about being married!” says the Oscar winner, who emphasizes her wedlock satisfaction by recalling a particularly unsuccessful blind date.

“It was horrible!” she cringes. “I went on a date with a guy who played his guitar for me and was so full of himself. We had plans to go out to a party, and he was driving and I remember saying, ‘You know what? I’m so sorry, but I’d like to go home please.’ So I got out of the car and I left.”

Jennifer Connelly and Paul Bettany are spotted in New York on Jan. 30. (©www.splashnews.com)

Connelly, who is mom to sons Stellan, 5, and Kai, 11 (dad is photographer David Dougan), admits she’s not sure exactly how she knew Bettany was the one for her, only that there “was something about the way that we were together. He stood out to me as someone singular and rare and beautiful, and I liked the way he was in the world. I liked the way he was with people. I liked the way he was with my son and the way he made me feel.”

Probably not making her feel great these days is the scrutiny she’s under due to her slimline figure, which has caught the attention of the tabloids.

The London Daily Mail has labeled her “worryingly slender” after she was photographed walking around her New York neighborhood with Bettany last week.

Meanwhile, the current issue of Star calls her “scary skinny” in its “Hollywood Weight Crisis” investigation, alleging that her loved ones are “trying to convince her to gain even a few pounds.”

Bettany recently attributed her whittled-down look to her grief over the loss of her father, a subject Connelly touches on with Glamour.

“I was very close to him, as were my husband and kids,” she acknowledges. “It’s the first real heartbreak I’ve experienced. I think he would want those of us who loved him to fight to experience joy, so I’ve been striving to remember him in a positive way. I don’t have to work to feel the sadness of his loss. But I do have to work to feel happy about [having had] the time I had with him.”