For Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, who sued her ex-boyfriend and music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs for alleged assault and abuse, “it takes a lot of heart to tell the truth in a situation where you couldn't do anything.”
The 37-year-old singer spoke Thursday about her experience with domestic violence and the support she has received since video of Combs assaulting Ventura surfaced last week. She wrote in an Instagram statement that “the outpouring of love has created a place for my younger self to settle and feel safe, but this is just the beginning.”
And he added: “Domestic violence is THE problem. “It turned me into someone I never thought I would become.”
Last week, CNN released security footage from 2016 of Combs kicking, grabbing, dragging and throwing a glass vase at Ventura in a Los Angeles hotel. Months before the damning footage came to light, Ventura detailed the assault in a lawsuit filed in November 2023. In his complaint, filed in U.S. District Court, Ventura alleged that Combs “became extremely intoxicated and hit her” in the face, “giving her a black eye” during an attack in March 2016. Combs denied her allegations and the lawsuit was settled a day after it was filed.
The video “further confirms Mr. Combs' disturbing and predatory behavior,” Douglas H. Wigdor, a Ventura attorney, told the Times in a statement last week.
Despite his initial denials, Combs apologized on Sunday, saying in an Instagram post, “I take full responsibility for my actions in that video.” He faced more backlash when critics, including Ventura's legal team and Combs' former bodyguard, questioned his sincerity.
Ventura said that despite the “hard work” he has done to move on from the 2016 incident, “I will always be recovering from my past.” He also urged his followers and supporters to “open your hearts to believing victims the first time.”
Roger Bonds, who was part of Combs' security staff from 2003 to 2012, said in a recent interview that he witnessed the Grammy-winning hip-hop star become violent toward women “about four or five times” during his mandate. Ventura's lawsuit names Bonds as someone who “tried to stop” Combs from hitting his then-girlfriend in a 2009 incident.
Bonds, speaking to Piers Morgan earlier this week, also said Cassie wasn't the only woman to suffer physical violence from Combs. He alleged that Combs was also physically violent toward the late model and actor Kim Porter, with whom Combs shares three children.
In her Instagram post, Ventura did not name her former on-again, off-again partner of 11 years, but extended a hand to “those still living in fear.” She encouraged victims to “reach out to your people, not isolate them.”
“No one should carry this weight alone,” he added, before noting that “this healing journey has no end.”
Ventura is one of six people who sued Combs for sexual assault, among other allegations, in recent months. On Tuesday, model Crystal McKinney sued Combs, alleging that he forced her to perform oral sex at her music studio in 2003.
Amid all the lawsuits, U.S. Department of Homeland Security agents conducted searches at Combs' mansions in Holmby Hills and Miami in March as part of a federal investigation into sex trafficking allegations involving Combs.
Aaron Dyer, one of Combs' attorneys, called the raids a “witch hunt” in a March statement.
Times staff writers Nardine Saad and Richard Winton contributed to this report.
