[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]
This is horrific!
We were shocked in 2018 when Cassie and Diddy broke up after an entire decade together. We thought we were seeing heartbreak — turns out it was more of a jailbreak?!
In a shocking lawsuit filed on Thursday, Cassie is now claiming those ten years were filled with all sorts of mistreatment by the music mogul — a “cycle of abuse, violence and sex trafficking.” In a statement, Cassie, real name Casandra Ventura, declared:
“After years in silence and darkness, I am finally ready to tell my story, and to speak up on behalf of myself and for the benefit of other women who face violence and abuse in their relationships. With the expiration of New York’s Adult Survivors Act fast approaching, it became clear that this was an opportunity to speak up about the trauma I have experienced and that I will be recovering from for the rest of my life.”
The lawsuit, first reported in The New York Times and later confirmed by multiple outlets, accuses Diddy of signing the singer to his Bad Boy Records after meeting her when she was just 19 and all too vulnerable — and using that position over her to slowly assume “complete control” over her life.
Cassie claims she only agreed to go out with him in the first place, back in 2007, because she feared retaliation if she refused. She says Diddy plied her with “copious amounts of drugs” — getting her addicted and starting a problem that continue for years. He also started paying for her car and housing, meaning she was totally reliant on him. That made it impossible to leave when he began physically abusing her.
Related: Remember When Someone Attacked Diddy’s Wax Figure? Huh…
The suit says Diddy “frequently beat Ms. Ventura savagely” — often witnessed by his other employees, who never “dared to speak up against their frightening and ferocious boss”. No one in the outside world would see the results of these beatings because Diddy would hide her in “hotels for days at a time to let her bruises heal,” claims the suit. In one 2009 incident described in the legal doc, the All About The Benjamins rapper stomped on Cassie’s face — then put her in a hotel room for a week.
The Long Way 2 Go singer says, like many abuse victims, she “found herself becoming numb to the abuse she was experiencing, and became entirely beholden to Mr. Combs’s demands”:
“She began to blindly follow his instructions out of fear of again being on the receiving end of a vicious beating.”
She says those instructions included what he called “freak offs” — drug-fueled sexual encounters in which she would be forced to have sex with various male prostitutes. Allegedly, Diddy would film these encounters and pleasure himself.
This was not something she wanted to consent to — she even says she would frequently vomit beforehand out of anxiety. But she was afraid to leave. And for good reason, apparently!
She claims in 2011 she briefly started a relationship with Kid Cudi. When Diddy found out he “hit her several times, and then kicked her in the back as she tried to run out the door.” The next year, he told her that in retaliation he was going to blow up Cudi’s car. The scariest part? Kid Cudi’s car did explode in his driveway around that time! Did Diddy try to murder Kid Cudi?!
Even when Cassie got the courage to leave, she says, Diddy was able to get her back using his power:
“Over the years that Mr. Combs abused Ms. Ventura physically and sexually, she again and again tried to escape his tight hold over her life. Every time she hid, Mr. Combs’s vast network of corporations and affiliated entities found her, and those who worked for Mr. Combs’s companies implored her to return to him.”
She really is describing being a prisoner!
Related: Did Diddy Date His Son’s Ex-Girlfriend??
When she was ready to leave for good, that’s when things hit got their worst. She says in September 2018 she met Diddy for dinner “for what she believed would be a discussion about concluding their relationship for good.” But when they went back to her home, she says, the Sean John founder “forced himself into her apartment” and started kissing her. Per the suit:
“She told him to stop and attempted to push him away. Mr. Combs then forcibly pulled off Ms. Ventura’s clothing and unbuckled his belt. He proceeded to rape Ms. Ventura while she repeatedly said ‘no’ and tried to push him away.”
JFC.
In a statement to People, Diddy’s lawyer attests:
“Mr. Combs vehemently denies these offensive and outrageous allegations. Ms. Ventura’s demand of $30 million, under the threat of writing a damaging book about their relationship, was unequivocally rejected as blatant blackmail. Despite withdrawing her initial threat, Ms. Ventura has now resorted to filing a lawsuit riddled with baseless and outrageous lies, aiming to tarnish Mr. Combs’ reputation, and seeking a pay day.”
Cassie’s attorney Douglas Wigdor said Diddy is trying to flip the truth around:
“Mr. Comb’s offered Ms. Ventura eight figures to silence her and prevent the filing of this lawsuit. She rejected his efforts and decided to give a voice to all woman who suffer in silence. Ms. Ventura should be applauded for her bravery.”
Thankfully it’s over now. Cassie did leave and, in 2019, married trainer Alex Fine. But all is not well for her. The suit says:
“Ms. Ventura has now fully escaped Mr. Combs, but the harm that the assaults and sexual abuse he caused her to experience for nearly a decade will forever haunt her. She has required intensive medical and psychological care to recover from the trauma she lived through.”
This is all so horrible. And if there really were witnesses to the abuse, we hope they can follow Cassie’s lead and summon the courage to come forward and tell the truth.
What do YOU think about this shocking suit?
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, help is available. Consider calling the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233, or text START to 88788, or go to https://www.thehotline.org/.
[Image via Eugene Powers/MEGA/WENN.]