NEW YORK (AP) — Cassie, the R&B singer and former girlfriend of Sean “Diddy” Combs, testified Tuesday that the mercurial music mogul — powerful, abusive and controlling — beat her mercilessly and ordered her to have “disgusting” sex with strangers during drug-fueled, multi-day marathons he called “freak offs.”
Cassie, whose legal name is Casandra Ventura, sniffled and dabbed her eyes with a tissue, sighed heavily and paused to compose herself through about five hours of testimony at Combs' sex trafficking trial.
In humiliating detail, she recounted a turbulent 10-year relationship with Combs that she said was consumed by violence and his obsession with a form of voyeurism where “he was controlling the whole situation." That included directing her encounters with male sex workers right down to the copious amounts of baby oil she applied to maintain the “glistening” look he desired.
The “Me & U” singer told jurors that his demands for her to engage in sometimes-revolting sex acts — sometimes as he watched from another room via FaceTime — left her feeling “heavily objectified." But, she said, she endured them because she was in love with Combs.
At the same time, Cassie said, Combs controlled every aspect of her life, from her career to her living arrangements, and she didn’t feel like she could tell him “no.”
When she did try to leave, she said, Combs punished her — most notably in a 2016 assault captured on a security camera at a Los Angeles hotel. In the video, played in court for a fifth time, Combs is seen hitting, kicking and attempting to drag her back to their room. After the footage was leaked last year, Combs apologized.
Asked how many other times Combs had knocked her to the ground, Cassie replied: “Too many to count.”
Due to give birth soon to her third child, Cassie occasionally rested her hands on her pregnant belly as she testified. Her supporters in the courtroom included her husband, Alex Fine.
She is scheduled to return to the witness stand Wednesday. After prosecutors are done questioning her, Combs' lawyers will get their turn.
Prosecutors allege the three-time Grammy winner used his fame and fortune to orchestrate a deviant empire of exploitation, coercing women into abusive sex parties. His lawyers argue that, although he could be violent, he never veered into sex trafficking and racketeering. They contend all sexual acts were consensual.
Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty. He interacted with his lawyers but remained largely stoic as Cassie testified. During a break, he made a heart shape with his hands and mouthed “thank you” to one of his twin daughters. He also blew a kiss to his mother.
Jailed since his arrest last September, he could get at least 15 years and up to life in prison if convicted.
Cassie testifies about violence and abuse
Cassie sued Combs in 2023 alleging years of abuse. He settled within hours, but dozens of similar lawsuits followed.
Cassie testified Tuesday that she met Combs in 2005, when she was 19 and he was 37. Combs signed her to a 10-year contract with his Bad Boy Records label. Within a few years, they started dating, Cassie said.
Her 2006 single, “Me & U," reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop chart and was the signature song on her first studio album. She was working on a follow up, but Combs “chose what was next for me” and didn't release any others, she said.
Cassie told jurors she was “sexually inexperienced” when she met Combs and that he introduced her to various sex acts before asking her to engaged in her first “freak off” when she was barely 22. Cassie said she was “confused, nervous, but also loved him very much” and “wanted to make him happy.”
Cassie, now 38, said her relationship with Combs ran the gamut from good times to arguments and physical altercations. She said the abuse happened “too frequently" and sometimes came after the smallest perceived slights.
Cassie said Combs ordered her to recruit male sex workers for “freak offs” and that he would pay them thousands of dollars to have sex with her. The encounters, fueled by ecstasy and other drugs, would go on for 36 or 48 hours, and she said the longest lasted four days. They took place in private, often in dark hotel rooms, unlike Combs' very public White Parties in the Hamptons that attracted A-list celebrities.
Cassie felt she couldn’t refuse Combs’ demands
Cassie said her first “freak off” occurred in Combs’ Los Angeles home with a male stripper from Las Vegas. She told jurors she felt dirty and confused afterward, but also relieved that Combs was happy.
Still, she said she felt obligated to go along with future “freak offs."
“I just didn’t want to make him upset," she said. "I just didn’t want to make him angry and regret telling me about this experience that was so personal.”
Cassie began crying when asked if she liked any aspect of the “freak offs.” She said she enjoyed “time spent with him.”
She said she used drugs at every “freak off” to numb herself during “emotionless sex with a stranger that I didn’t really want to have sex with.”
The Associated Press doesn’t generally identify people who say they are victims of sexual abuse unless they come forward publicly, as Cassie has done.
‘Freak offs’ became a ‘job’
Soon, she said, she was doing “freak offs” weekly. They went on for a decade, with the final one in 2017 or 2018, she said. Each time, she said, she had to recuperate from lack of sleep, alcohol, drugs and “having sex with a stranger for days.”
She described the situation as: “‘Freak offs' became a job where there was no space to do anything else but to recover and just try to feel normal again.”
During her opening statement, prosecutor Emily Johnson told the jury that Cassie was not the only woman Combs beat and sexually exploited.
Combs was among the most influential hip-hop producers and executives of the past three decades, working with artists including Notorious B.I.G., Mary J. Blige and Usher. He also created the fashion clothing line Sean John and produced the reality show “Making the Band."
___
Associated Press writer Dave Collins in Hartford, Connecticut, contributed to this report.
Michael R. Sisak And Larry Neumeister, The Associated Press
