V. Stiviano spoke to ABC's Barbara Walters on Friday to discuss Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling and the controversy surrounding a racist audio recording that was leaked last week.
The recording captures Sterling instructing Stiviano to not post photos of herself with black people or bring black friends to Clippers games. Following the leak, the NBA banned Sterling for life and fined him $2.5 million.
Stiviano, who describes herself as Sterling's "personal assistant," told Walters she believes Sterling "feels very alone, not truly supported by those around him. Tormented, emotionally traumatized." She added, "I think he can't even believe or understand sometimes the things he says and I think he's hurt by it. He's hurting right now."
Stiviano added that Sterling should "absolutely" apologize, but "only God knows" if he will. Later in the interview though, when asked if Sterling is a racist, Stiviano declared, "No, I don't believe it in my heart." She went on to argue that "Mr. Sterling's from a different generation."
When asked to describe their relationship, Stiviano said she's Sterling's "everything -- his confidant, his best friend, his silly rabbit." Walters pressed Stiviano, asking if she was "in love with Sterling," to which Stiviano replied, "No, I'm not in love... I love him like a father figure."
Stiviano later described their financial arrangement, "He first started paying me as an employee and then he started paying me off the books."
She added the biggest misconception about her is "that I'm a mistress or a whore."
Sterling ultimately chose not to be interviewed, after going "back and forth and back and forth" on the decision, according to Walters.