Cassie Ventura, Sean “Diddy” Combs’ former girlfriend, took the stand Tuesday (May 13) in the mogul’s current sex trafficking case.
Accompanied by her husband, Alex Fine, Cassie entered the courtroom shortly after former male escort Daniel Philip completed his testimony, which began the day prior. Husband Alex reportedly also stared Diddy down as he entered the courtroom, CNN reports.
Before speaking, Ventura’s attorney, Douglas Wigdor said she was “very ready” to take the stand, and told reporters she is “confident.”
For many, Cassie is the catalyst for Diddy’s current legal woes, as her November 2023 lawsuit against the mogul — which he settled for an undisclosed amount within 24 hours — led to several other lawsuits featuring heinous accusations, Homeland Security raids, and eventually, his September 2024 arrest.
Combs is on trial for racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution, with the prosecution alleging that, between 2004 and 2024, Combs sex trafficked three women and kept them under his thumb via physical and emotional abuse. He’s also accused of drugging these women and paying them and others to keep quiet about his alleged crimes.
Read up on key moments from Cassie’s time on the stand below.
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Details of abuse
Image Credit: Johnny Nunez/WireImage After confirming that she and Combs were in a relationship for “a little over 10 years,” Cassie detailed the alleged physical abuse she suffered at the hands of the Bad Boy founder.
“He would smash me in my head, knock me over, drag me, kick me, stomp me in the head if I was down,” Ventura said of her relationship with Combs while on the stand, emphasizing that arguments between them would often result in “some sort of physical abuse.”
Prosecutor Emily Johnson then asked Cassie how frequently things came to blows, with the singer responding, “too frequently.” She also says that her injuries included busted lips, knots on her forehead and “bruises all over my body.”
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Hotel footage was after a “freak-off”
Image Credit: Steve Eichner/WWD/Penske Media via Getty Images Cassie went on to share that the now infamous hotel footage of her being attacked by the mogul was recorded after her attempt to leave “an encounter that we called a ‘Freak Off.’”
“Within the first year of our relationship, he proposed this idea,” Cassie said of Puff introducing the idea of freak-offs into their partnership. “This sexual encounter that he called voyeurism where he would watch me be in intercourse with a third party, specifically with another man.”
She then added that freak-offs often entailed, “hiring an escort and setting up this experience, so that I could perform for Sean.”
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She didn’t know how to refuse “freak-offs” safely.
Image Credit: Denise Truscello/WireImage for Jet Nightclub. The singer admittedly agreed to the arrangement initially, testifying, “I also felt a sense of responsibility. It was him sharing something like that with me. I was confused, nervous but also loved him very much and wanted to make him happy so.”
“I knew it wasn’t something I wanted to be doing especially as regularly as it became, but again, I was just in love and wanted to make him happy,” she added.
As far as why she didn’t say “no” once she became uncomfortable with the arrangement, she shared, “It got to a point where I just didn’t feel like I had much of a choice, didn’t really know what ‘no’ could be or what ‘no’ could turn into.”
“And I just didn’t feel like I had much say in it at that time, being really super young, naive, total people pleaser,” Ventura added. “I didn’t know if he would be upset enough to be violent or if he would write me off and just not want to be with me at all.”
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Things were platonic, then he kissed her out of nowhere.
Image Credit: KMazur/WireImage) Cassie recalled being signed to Puff’s Bad Boy Records in 2006, saying things started out appropriately platonic between them. However, in August 2007, Diddy reportedly kissed her out of the blue on her 21st birthday in the bathroom of a Las Vegas venue where she was celebrating. She claims she cried and ran off after the unwelcome smooch.
“I was just really confused at the time,” she said, adding that she was a “young, new artist” and “just didn’t really know the lay of the land when it came to things like that.”
“Did you want to kiss Sean at your 21st birthday?” Prosecutor Johnson asked Ventura. “No, not at my 21st birthday,” Ventura responded.
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Puff was a “fun guy” with “many girlfriends”
Image Credit: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic) Cassie goes on to describe getting to know Diddy in the early stages of their relationship, saying she slowly developed feelings for him after regular invites to meet him at NYC hotels while his home was being renovated.
“I wanted to be around Sean for the same reasons as everyone else at the time — just this exciting, entertaining, fun guy that also happened to have my career in his hands,” Ventura said. “It felt special because not a lot of people got that time with him.”
Describing herself as “sexually unexperienced” at the time, Cassie recalled one NYC visit where Diddy performed oral sex on her, and made her “feel crazy” when she didn’t want to reciprocate. “I was just so young, I didn’t even have the vocabulary for some of the things that we talked about. I was also still in a relationship with someone else,” she shared. She also recalled a trip to Miami — where Diddy allegedly gave her ecstasy — as the first time they were intimate.
After the Miami trip, she officially became his girlfriend, but wasn’t the only one.
“Sean Combs had many girlfriends,” Ventura said, adding that at the time, “I knew that we were spending a lot of time together, one-on-one, and I really felt like we were in a monogamous relationship for a period.” She added that they initially kept the relationship quiet due to her being his artist.
She later testified that Diddy would tell her privately that they were monogamous, but stepped out on her many times. “I didn’t get that he was him — he was Puff Daddy, and Puff Daddy has many women,” Ventura said of feeling jealous of other women in is life. “He likes the company of women, and I had to just really learn that over time, despite what he would tell me just between us. He made me feel like we were in a monogamous relationship more often than not. It was really me figuring out that we were not.”
“He expected that of me, so I guess I assumed it was the same.”
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Mood swings
Image Credit: Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images) Cassie claims that she and Diddy spoke “all day, throughout the day” and that he would be an “incessant caller” if she didn’t pick up for him, even sending his employees to physically go find her if he couldn’t reach her. She also added that he was notorious for his mood swings, which could result in abusive behavior.
When asked how the mood swings impacted her, she responded, “The most complicated and the greatest examples are the abuse because I also felt at certain times when I knew it wasn’t even about me and you make the wrong face and the next thing I knew, I was getting hit in the face.”
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She kept broken devices
Image Credit: Kevin Mazur/WireImage) Cassie also testified to keeping old and broken phones, laptops, and iPads due to her fear of Diddy using recorded footage of her during freak-offs as blackmail for not following his orders.
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Diddy told her she looked “too Mexican,” required certain nail color for “freak-offs”
Image Credit: Ron Wolfson/WireImage for BET Network Upon returning to the stand after a lunch break, Cassie continued to testify, saying Diddy controlled every aspect of her look and career. While she was managed by James Cruz, he reportedly did so with “one hand tied behind his back,” as everything had to go through Puff.
When it came to her looks, Diddy was very specific in how she was to present herself, she claims. “My appearance was very important to him, it was pretty immediate,” she said in court. “Some days he would want me to be really sexy and other days like a tomboy. He was just very involved in it.”
She added that he once told her she “looked too Mexican” and also insulted her hair and nails. Speaking of nails, she claims he demanded she wear white polish or French tips during freak-offs, and also spoke of the singer getting breast implants.
“I had to look a certain way during freak offs,” Ventura said. “Definitely my self-worth took a hit during the entirety of the relationship.”
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