RIHANNA, CHRIS BROWN HUG AT MTV VIDEO MUSIC AWARDS

*Rihanna and Chris Brown have shared their first public embrace since Grammy Eve 2009 – the night he assaulted her and set in motion their breakup.

The moment took place last night at the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards, where both won Moonmen: he took Best Male Video and she nabbed the night’s most coveted, Video of the Year, for “We Found Love.”

The hug didn’t take place on the live broadcast, but was captured by one of MTV.com’s “All Access Live” cameras (Scroll down to watch.) after broadcast cameras cut away from her once she’d accepted her award. She left the stage, and spotted Brown.

Brown made eye contact with Rihanna and she walked over to greet him and they shared a quick embrace, before she hugged Bu Thiam (Akon’s brother), VP of A&R at her label, Def Jam. Rihanna then patted Brown’s bleach-blond head and walked away.

A photo of the hug was immediately uploaded to Instagram and, of course, lit up the blogosphere along with speculation that the two are secretly back together.

Last month, Rihanna sat down with Oprah Winfrey and opened up about her complicated relationship with Brown, saying that he was the “love of my life,” but that they are now working to rekindle their friendship and are still “very close.”

She denied, however, that they have become romantic again. “He’s in a relationship of his own. I’m single but we have maintained a very close friendship,” she said. “We’ve just worked on it little-by-little. And it’s not easy.”