Rihanna: Chris Brown ‘had no soul in his eyes’

New York — Rihanna on Friday described the horror she felt as her ex-boyfriend Chris Brown was biting and punching her during a violent argument in February, saying she saw “no soul in his eyes.”

“There was no person when I looked at him,” the 21-year-old singer recalled during the second installment of an interview airing on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “He had no soul in his eyes. Just blank.”

Brown was arrested Feb. 8, hours after he was accused of beating Rihanna after the two argued over another woman. He later pleaded guilty to felony assault.

The attack occurred in Los Angeles’ Hancock Park neighborhood as Brown drove a rented sports car. She said it was triggered when she saw a text message on his phone from another woman and confronted him about it. She said he lied about it and “I wouldn’t drop it.”

A search warrant affidavit filed in the case stated that Brown hit, choked and bit Rihanna and tried at one point to push her from the car.

“It was ugly,” she said.

During the beating, the singer said she had no idea how it would end: “That’s all I kept thinking the whole time, ‘When is it going to stop? When is it going to stop?”‘

Judge OKs deal for ‘Girls Gone Wild’ mogul

Los Angeles — A judge sentenced “Girls Gone Wild” founder Joe Francis on Friday to 301 days already served and a year of probation for filing false income tax returns and bribing Nevada jail workers.

U.S. District Judge S. James Otero accepted the terms of a plea deal between Francis and prosecutors, who struck the agreement after learning on the eve of the trial that a key witness had withheld information from them.

The soft-porn mogul who filmed and marketed videos of young women was indicted by a federal grand jury on tax evasion charges in 2007. He initially was accused of taking $20 million in fraudulent tax deductions.

Under the deal, Francis pleaded guilty in September to two misdemeanor counts of filing false tax returns and one count of bribing Nevada jail workers in exchange for food.

He acknowledged omitting more than $500,000 in interest income on his 2003 tax returns and said he gave more than $5,000 in goods to the jail employees.

The plea deal also required Francis to pay $250,000 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service.

R&B singer Usher’s divorce is final

Atlanta — R&B singer Usher’s divorce from his wife is final, according to court documents.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Bensonetta Tipton Lane issued a final decree in the divorce case Wednesday.

Usher, 31, whose real name is Usher Raymond IV, filed for divorce from Tameka Raymond on June 12. He said the couple had been separated since July 2008 and claimed there was “no reasonable hope of reconciliation” and the marriage was “irretrievably broken.”

Tameka Raymond disputed Usher’s claim that the couple had been separated since July 2008. She said in court documents filed June 29 that she “had every reason to believe her marriage was intact” and that the two were “intimately together as husband and wife as recently as June 6.”

Broderick doesn’t get ‘Messenger’ bashing

Fort Lauderdale, Fla. — Matthew Broderick says he’s puzzled by the bashing he’s received for his actions during the first New York preview of “The Starry Messenger,” a new play by good friend Kenneth Lonergan.

“We had to rush to our first preview and then I guess we got some press just after one show, which I don’t really understand,” the actor says.

Messages posted on various theater Web sites said a prompter in the front row needed to assist Broderick with his lines during the Oct. 26 performance of the three-hour play, produced by off-Broadway’s New Group.

Broderick adds, “It’s going very well now, I think, now that we’ve had a whole week. And it’s going to be really good by the time it opens.”

New Group artistic director Scott Elliott said “The Starry Messenger,” the story of an astronomy teacher’s affair with a younger woman, will open Nov. 23, a week later than originally planned.

Woods sues hospital in brother’s death

Warwick, R.I. — Two-time Oscar-nominated actor James Woods has sued a Rhode Island hospital over the 2006 death of his younger brother.

Woods on Friday would not discuss the lawsuit in detail, but told The Associated Press he wants “justice” for his brother, Michael, who was 49 when he died at Kent Hospital in Warwick of what was believed to be a heart attack.

Woods, who is the executor of his brother’s estate, claims his brother received negligent medical care.

It was not immediately clear how much money or other damages Woods is seeking through the lawsuit.

A jury was selected this week and lawyers argued motions in court Friday, including one from the defense that sought to restrict statements of bereavement or mourning from Michael Woods’s son, Peyton. The request was denied.

Opening statements are scheduled for Monday in Kent County Superior Court.