Chris Brown Isn't Ready to Date – Yet

By Michael Y. Park

11/16/2009 at 04:15 PM EST

Chris Brown says he isn't quite ready to get back into the dating scene.

"I've been kinda chillin'," he tells MTV News. "I mean, I'm Chris Brown. I'm not saying it like that, but it's just, like, girls are gonna be around. I love women. But I would say I've just been chillin'. I haven't really been trying to get into a relationship or trying to date anybody. I've just kinda been working on me. Like I said, just really getting me straight."

After recent interviews in which Rihanna, 21, has described the assault, Brown maintains that, while he respects her right to speak out, he wishes she'd kept the matter private.

Though the couple reunited briefly after the incident, they've been ordered by a court to maintain their distance for five years.