Ne-Yo: 'Rihanna is fine'

Ne-Yo has revealed that he has spoken to Rihanna since she was allegedly attacked by her boyfriend Chris Brown, insisting that she is "fine".

The singer, who collaborated with Rihanna on 'I Hate That I Love You' and toured with Brown, told MTV News that he had wanted to hear both sides of the story before making a public comment.

"I spoke to Rihanna. She says she's fine. She didn't go into detail about what happened. I understand it's a painful situation; I didn't push," he said.

"I haven't had the opportunity to talk to Chris yet. I just wanna sit down and talk to that dude and just explain if he doesn't understand: 'That's not something that's excusable...You have to get a little smarter about how you handle certain situations.'"

Discussing the leaked photograph that appears to show a bloodied and bruised Rihanna, he said: "That hurt me to my heart...I still don't know what happened because I haven't had the opportunity to talk to Chris yet, but to take it to that level really hurt my heart.

"I won't say who was responsible. I won't pick no sides. I'm just saying it was wrong [that] it had to happen like that, and I'm praying for the both of them."

Last week, Rihanna thanked fans for their support and promised that she was remaining "strong" and "doing well".