Rihanna refused to see a therapist.

The 'Umbrella' star - who was assaulted by her ex-boyfriend Chris Brown earlier this year - was urged to seek professional help following her ordeal but ignored the advice because she wanted to figure it out by herself.

She said: "Everyone wanted me to see a therapist to just talk about it, and I refused. In Barbados, we don't do that. We keep it in our family and figure it out and move on.

"I put my game face on and went on with my life. Deep down inside I had some things to get past and it came out in the music."

The 21-year-old star -who retreated from the world and didn't speak publicly or privately about her ordeal for a number of months - said she worked on her new album 'Rated R' as a way of dealing with the pain.

She told the Scotsman newspaper: "As traumatic and as terrifying as it was, whole life changed in the most amazing way after I went through that."

When Rihanna entered the studio only two months after being attacked by Chris, she admitted she wasn't prepared to get personal.

She said: "It was exactly what I tried to stay away from. When I was about to start the record, that was the first thing I said, 'I don't want no sad songs. I don't want no songs about love.'

"I turned away eight ballads: 'I don't want to do that, that's totally expected.' "