Combs has faced multiple civil lawsuits accusing him of abuse, all of which he has denied.
Topline
Singer Cassie Ventura said Thursday domestic violence “broke” her in a statement posted to Instagram, her first public remarks since CNN published footage last week depicting her ex-boyfriend Sean “Diddy” Combs attacking her in 2016—the latest controversy involving the rapper, who has faced a search of his home by federal agents and multiple civil lawsuits accusing him of abuse, all of which he has denied.Key Facts
Singer Cassie Ventura, Combs’ ex-girlfriend, spoke out after CNN obtained a 2016 video of Combs attacking her in a hotel hallway, stating on Instagram Thursday morning that domestic violence “broke” her and she will “always be recovering” from her past.
The video—which Combs later apologized for—came after Ventura sued Combs in November, alleging Combs raped her in 2018 and subjected her to a years-long abusive relationship that included physical abuse and his assertion of “complete control” over her personal and professional life.
Ventura’s $30 million suit was settled the day after it was filed for an undisclosed amount, with Ventura telling CNN she had chosen to “resolve this matter amicably,” while Combs’ attorney said the settlement was “in no way an admission of wrongdoing” and didn’t change his denial of the allegations.
Ventura’s lawsuit was the first in a litany of civil suits against Combs: Most recently, former model Crystal McKinney filed a lawsuit in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday accusing the rapper of drugging and sexually assaulting her at his New York recording studio in 2003.
In November, a woman named Joie Dickerson-Neal alleged in a lawsuit Combs drugged her, sexually assaulted her and secretly recorded the assault while she was a college student in 1991.
Separately that same month, an anonymous plaintiff accused Combs and singer-songwriter Aaron Hall of raping her and a friend in 1990 or 1991 after meeting at an MCA Records event in New York—a suit that, like the Dickerson-Neal complaint, was filed shortly before the expiration of a New York law temporarily allowing lawsuits for older assault allegations that would ordinarily be past the statute of limitations.
