Chris Brown has had a long and tumultuous relationship with fame through the years, and in a new Billboard profile of the singer published on Thursday, March 2, several insiders paint a dark picture of his life in and out of the spotlight.
Below are the five most shocking claims from Billboard’s profile of Brown.
1. Brown reportedly doesn’t take medication for his bipolar II disorder.
According to Billboard, the singer was diagnosed with bipolar II disorder, a condition that is diagnosed after one or more major depressive episodes.
Another report by Brown’s probation officer at the time says his episodes were often set off by periods of extreme stress or drug and alcohol use.
In the Billboard piece, the writer says that Brown ‘hadn’t been taking his medication’ for the condition.
2. The singer allegedly uses series of drugs.
Numerous sources told Billboard that Brown is known to smoke pot, sip on lean (a mixture of promethazine/codeine syrup and a soft drink), and go on coke or Molly binges.
3. Brown used to meditate to combat his aggression.
Brown was jailed in October 2013 after he violated his probation by punching a man in Washington, D.C., who was allegedly trying to take a picture of him.
READ: How Chris Brown blasted Karrueche Tran for dating Drake while he was in jail
When he was released in June 2014, friends and family saw a changed man. At a surprise party that his then-girlfriend Tran threw for him.
4. He keeps in touch with some parts of his past.
The Billboard profile claims that Brown is still in occasional contact with his father, Clinton Brown, who split with his mother, Joyce Hawkins, when Chris was just six years old.
READ: How Rihanna may reignite the beef between Drake and Chris Brown
By contrast, Brown’s mother ‘keeps a distance from Chris,’ according to a former team member, though ‘when the baby [Royalty] came into play, they became much cooler.’
5. He would punish crew members on tour if he were in a mood, sources said.
After allegedly beating up former manager Mike G, Brown reportedly went rogue without a formal manager or publicist during his One Hell of a Nite tour, which kicked off in Europe in May 2016.
At times, sources claim, his temper would flare up on the road, and he would take it out on his team. ‘We had no manager telling us what to do or where we were going,’ one former security team member told Billboard.
‘He would make people sleep on the bus [instead of hotels] when he was mad at them. He was threatening people and cops. He was calling himself the devil.’