Cassie Ventura, a singer who dated Sean "Diddy" Combs for over a decade, took the stand Tuesday during the second day of his federal sex trafficking trial to provide key testimony about his alleged violent and disturbing behavior.
The 38-year-old musician, who is currently eight months pregnant with her husband Alex Fine's third child, met Combs when she was 19 and he was 37. He signed her to his Bad Boys Records label and the two began dating a few years later.
Combs has been charged with sex trafficking and racketeering and faces a life sentence behind bars. He has pleaded not guilty.
Tuesday was the first time Cassie and Combs had seen each other in about six years, but when Cassie entered the courtroom, Combs continued looking straight ahead.
The singer talked a lot about the history of her romantic relationship with Combs, testifying that he first kissed her in a hotel suite in Las Vegas during her 21st birthday. She said that he expected her to be monogamous, and so she thought it was the same for him.
Over time, according to Cassie's testimony, Combs became more controlling. She claimed that if she didn't respond to his calls or texts right away, there would be incessant attempts to reach her by him and his staff.
Cassie said he paid for her to live in apartments that were within minutes of his own residences in New York and Los Angeles, and he had his own set of keys to her home.
The singer said the relationship was psychologically abusive daily, and that the physical abuse would happen over small things like not smiling at him the way he wanted.
“You make the wrong face and the next thing I knew I was getting hit in the face,” she said during her testimony.
Cassie testified that she was first asked to participate in the music mogul's "freak offs" when she was 22 years old.
Cassie said she was “confused, nervous, but also loved him very much" when Combs asked her to participate in the orchestrated sex marathons.
“I just remember my stomach falling to my butt. Just the nervousness and confusion in that moment," she said.
As time went on, Cassie claimed that the "freak offs" became a job that took up anywhere from 36 or 48 hours — with the longest one lasting four days. The sessions and subsequent recovery didn't leave much time for anything else, including her music career, the singer testified.
During the first day of witness testimony in the trial, a male stripper named Daniel Phillip testified that he was hired to have sex with Cassie and often witnessed Combs' physical abuse of her.
Cassie previously alleged in a lawsuit filed in 2023 that Combs raped her when she tried to leave him and often punched, kicked and beat her, causing injuries including bruises, burst lips, black eyes and bleeding, The Associated Press said.
Combs admitted to some of the abusive behavior in a social media apology after security camera footage surfaced that showed him beating her in 2016 at a Los Angeles hotel.
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During the first day of the trial, the court was shown security footage of the incident from multiple angles, which showed Combs repeatedly kicking and assaulting Cassie as she tried to flee to an elevator.
The trial's first witness, security officer Israel Florez, recounted the now-infamous incident where he responded to a distress call from Cassie at the Intercontinental Hotel. Florez testified that he witnessed Combs viciously beating Cassie in the hotel hallway, grabbing her by the hair and neck and throwing her to the ground.
This is a developing story that will be updated.
