From their first meeting to a cheating scandal…<\/b>
\nToday, Sean \u201cDiddy\u201d 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 \u2014 an aspiring model and a receptionist at the New York City \u00adrecord label \u2014 for a date.
\u201c[Combs] was very determined. If he wanted something, he never let go until he got it,\u201d said Porter\u2019s friend Jessica Rosenblum.
\u201cIt took quite a while,\u201d she added of the courtship. \u201c[Porter] was cool as a \u00adcucumber.\u201d
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.
\u201cWe were more than best friends, we were more than soulmates,\u201d Combs tweeted after Porter\u2019s death, adding that he missed her \u201cso much.\u201d
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, \u201cKim was the superstar on the block,\u201d said Kenny Burns, former senior vice president of brand development for Combs Enterprises. Porter modeled for brands including Tommy \u00adHilfiger 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. Sure.
\u201cI think she saw the best of [Combs],\u201d said Burns. \u201cKim was the person who . let him know he could be all he could be.\u201d
Combs rose from intern to executive. In 1993 he founded Bad Boy Records, which found success with Notorious B. I. G. the next year.
\u201cThey were a very dynamic couple,\u201d said Hilfiger of Combs and Porter. \u201cThey were the \u2018It\u2019 couple of the time.\u201d
Rosenblum recalls the mogul asking her to help plan lavish parties and special surprises for Porter. \u201cIt would have to be over the top and there would have be roses,\u201d she said.
\u201cKim and I would go to dinner and she\u2019d have some crazy new piece of jewelry \u2014 and it wasn\u2019t an occasion, it was just him showering her.\u201d
Combs adopted Quincy, who became a big brother in 1998 when Porter and Combs had their son Christian.
But two weeks after Christian was born, Combs was caught having sex with a \u201clong-legged stunner\u201d \u2014 who wasn\u2019t Porter \u2014 on a Florida beach, according to Page Six.
It was a blow to Porter, who had given an interview to Notorious magazine stating that the couple planned to get hitched but weren\u2019t in a rush. To complicate matters, \u00adrumors were swirling of Combs\u2019 budding \u00adromance with Jennifer Lopez. By 1999, Porter and Combs called it quits, and he went on to date J. Lo for two years.
In 2001 Porter took Combs to court to \u00adincrease his child support for Christian from $6,800 to $35,000 a month.
Despite their public battles and humiliations, the two reunited in 2003. In 2006 Porter was pregnant with twin daughters D\u2019Lila Star and Jessie James when, she later told \u00adEssence, she found out that Combs had also impregnated another woman. Amazingly, Porter didn\u2019t confront him. After the twins were born, however, Combs confessed, revealing that in July 2006 he\u2019d had a daughter, Chance, with Sarah Chapman, a longtime \u00adassociate of his.
Combs exposing the truth was the final straw for Porter. Nonetheless, they remained friends.
\u201cNothing is easy with Sean Combs,\u201d said Burns. \u201cBut she always made it about those kids.\u201d
\u201cShe was the anchor for everyone,\u201d said a friend, adding that Porter always included Chance and Justin [Comb\u2019s son, born in 1993 to his high-school sweetheart, Misa Hylton-Brim] in whatever her children were doing. \u201cShe treated them like they were her own.\u201d
And the other women in Combs\u2019 life, from Hylton-Brim and Chapman to his long-time girlfriend Cassie Ventura, respected Porter, according to Burns.
\u201cShe was always treated like the matriarch she was,\u201d said Burns. \u201cHe [was] in the middle of his relationship with Cassie, but when we went on holiday to St. Barths and are on a yacht, Kim was there.\u201d He also gave her the keys to his Malibu rental when he wasn\u2019t there, according to Rosenblum.
Burns said Combs will no doubt be lost without Porter in his life.
\u201cShe was the calm in the chaos,\u201d he said. \u201cThe [belief] in our circle was that she was who he was meant to be with. There was no doubt in everybody\u2019s mind that they would get back together at some point in life.\u201d
Additional reporting by Kirsten Fleming<\/p>\n