Chris Brown opened up for the first time about his 2009 assault on Rihanna at Elton John's AIDS Foundation Oscars fundraising and viewing party on Sunday.

Brown, 23, said he has "grown" up since the incident, which he called his "greatest regret."

"That night was the deepest regret of my life, the biggest mistake," Brown told Mirror.

The Grammy-winner said it took some "serious making up" but the Bajan beauty forgave.

"But she loves me - what can I say? I'm forgiven... but, yes, I worked hard for it," he added. "Sometimes you row, you fight, with the one you love and things get said, stuff spirals."

Brown also commented on Oscars host Seth MacFarlane's joke about his assault on Rihanna. On live telecast Sunday during the Oscars, Macfarlane compared the "unspeakably violent" movie Django Unchained to "date night for Rihanna and Chris Brown."

"This is the story of a man fighting to get back his woman, who's been subjected to unthinkable violence," MacFarlane told the audience. "Or as Chris Brown and Rihanna call it, a date movie."

Brown said about MacFarlane's joke, "People attack me and criticize me, it happens all the time. But they don't know me, and they don't know us." He said such comments don't bother her any more, and people can continue to judge him and Rihanna though in reality "they don't know anything."

Brown also confirmed that the couple have reconciled and explained why Rihanna couldn't attend the party: she is rehearing for her upcoming tour.

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Chris Brown and Rihanna, Rihanna and chris brown, The Oscars 2013, Oscars 2013, Celebrity interview