From their first meeting to a cheating scandal…
Today, Sean “Diddy” Combs is a hip-hop entrepreneur worth a reported $825 million. But back in the early 1990s, he was just an intern at Uptown Records, begging Kim Porter — an aspiring model and a receptionist at the New York City record label — for a date.
“[Combs] was very determined. If he wanted something, he never let go until he got it,” said Porter’s friend Jessica Rosenblum.
“It took quite a while,” she added of the courtship. “[Porter] was cool as a cucumber.”
Eventually, his charm offensive worked: The two went on to have three children together and date on and off for more than a decade. But on Nov. 15, he lost her for good when the 47-year-old died at her Los Angeles home.
“We were more than best friends, we were more than soulmates,” Combs tweeted after Porter’s death, adding that he missed her “so much.”
Sources say Porter had been battling pneumonia, and a 911 call described her as being in cardiac arrest. A spokesperson for the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner said on Thursday that an autopsy was inconclusive pending further investigation.
Combs was born in Harlem and raised in Mt. Vernon, while Porter grew up in Georgia before moving to New York City to pursue a modeling career. When they got together, “Kim was the superstar on the block,” said Kenny Burns, former senior vice president of brand development for Combs Enterprises. Porter modeled for brands including Tommy Hilfiger and Revlon.
She gave in to Combs when she saw how he was with her young son Quincy, who was born in 1991 and fathered by the R&B singer Al B.
