Over the years, Sean Combs has worn various hats. First he was Puffy, then Puff Daddy, then P Diddy, then Diddy, then Swag, then Puff Daddy again, and most recently Love. He is a rapper, producer, label executive, actor, restaurateur and businessman. But his latest label is far less flattering. As of this week, Combs is officially a man in court, accused of sexual trafficking.
Back in March, properties believed to belong to Combs were raided by US law enforcement “in connection with a federal sex trafficking investigation,” according to Fox 11 news reports. The news came months after the rapper was accused of multiple incidents of sexual assault, including more than 15 years’ worth of physical, sexual, and mental abuse towards his ex-girlfriend, American singer-songwriter Cassie.
Then, a video obtained by CNN showed Combs, wearing only a white towel, punching and kicking the R&B singer in a hotel hallway in 2016. He has now admitted the assault, and said he is “truly sorry” describing his actions as “inexcusable”. "I take full responsibility for my actions in that video. I was disgusted then when I did it. I'm disgusted now," the music mogul said in a video statement posted Sunday to Instagram and Facebook.
Another one of Combs’ accusers alleges that he, along with two other men, raped her two decades ago, when she was 17. A male music producer has also accused Combs of sexually assaulting him and forcing him to sleep with sex workers.
This week, Combs has been arrested and taken to court in Manhattan where he will be tried for sexual trafficking offences. The rapper has been accused of of running a criminal enterprise from at least 2008 that relied on drugs and violence to force women to "fulfill his sexual desires", according to prosecutors.
The 14-page indictment charges him with racketeering (coercive schemes or fraudulent business dealings), sex trafficking by force, and transportation to engage in prostitution. If he’s convicted on all three counts, Combs will face a prison sentence between 15 years and life imprisonment. Combs has denied all charges and plead “not guilty” on the stand. He has been remanded in custody as the court considers him a serious flight risk.
Combs, whose 1997 debut album No Way Out catapulted him onto the rap scene and eventually went on to be certified seven times platinum, is one of the biggest names in American hip-hop. He got his start at Uptown Records, where he helped develop R&B legends like Mary J Blige and Jodeci, before pivoting into creating music himself, then later becoming a record label executive and producer.
The accusations and scandal around Combs has rocked the hip-hop world. At the time, he was very much on the up – last year he appeared at the MTV Video Music Awards, where he was bestowed the Global Icon Award for his contribution to music. A week before Cassie’s lawsuit, he was on Graham Norton’s sofa promoting his first solo album for 17 years, The Love Album: Off the Grid. “I am the happiest I’ve ever been in life, I laugh the most, I smile the most, I breathe the most,” he said in a 2021 interview with Vanity Fair.
But even before these latest disturbing allegations, his image in the music industry has been far from squeaky clean. From an arrest with J Lo to his seven children, here’s everything you need to know about the disgraced rapper.
‘I have a hustler’s mentality’ – growing up in Harlem and Bad Boy Records
Combs was born in Harlem, New York City, and raised in the suburbs. His mother, Janice, was a model and teaching assistant. His father, Melvin, served in the US Air Force, but was also “a drug dealer and a hustler”, and was shot dead while sitting in his car when Combs was two years old. “I have his hustler’s mentality, his hustler’s spirit,” Combs has said of his late father in his memoir.
Nicknamed “Puff” as he would huff and puff when he was angry, the young Combs was clearly full of energy. While at Howard University he had a reputation for throwing and promoting parties, some of which attracted up to a thousand attendees. In 1991, Combs promoted an AIDS fundraiser at a university gym in New York, following a charity basketball game. The event was oversold, and a stampede occurred in which nine people died.
Combs lasted a few terms at university, before leaving to join Uptown Records as an intern. After being fired from Uptown, he then went on to form his own label, Bad Boy Records, in 1993. The Hitmen, his in-house production team, worked with Jodeci, Mary J. Blige, Usher, Lil' Kim, TLC, Mariah Carey, Boyz II Men, SWV, Aretha Franklin, and others.
‘I love women’ – seven children with five different women
The music mogul has been romantically linked to a host of A-listers over the years, from Jennifer Lopez to Cameron Diaz.
"I definitely want to get married," Diddy said in a 2008 interview with the Telegraph. "I've already chosen the church: St Patrick's Cathedral on Fifth Avenue. I want to have more kids, too - I want to have 10 in all."
“I get on well with all my exes - I love everyone,” he continued. “And I love women… I'm an eye man, you know? A woman with beautiful eyes is a woman I could look at forever."
Early in his career, Combs began dating fashion designer Misa Hylton. The pair welcomed their first child, a son named Justin, in December 1993 and have co-parented him since their split.
Hylton made headlines for seemingly throwing shade at her ex in June 2023 after her son’s DUI arrest, writing on Instagram that Diddy had been “sit[ting] around for years and act[ing] like there isn’t anything wrong with you.”
Diddy then went on to date model Kim Porter on and off from the 1990s until 2007. While they were together, he adopted his partner’s son Quincy from a previous relationship. The pair went on to have three more children of their own: son Christian and twin daughters D’Lila and Jessie.
However, in 2006, during Porter’s second pregnancy, Diddy actually fathered another child with businesswoman Sarah Chapman. Porter found out about the baby through a friend.
“I would have preferred to find out from him because that’s a man,” she told Essence. “I know it’s hard for anyone to say to their significant other, ‘I’ve gotten into some s**t and I got a baby on the way.’
“But men do get caught up in things; I’m not naive to that,” she continued. “Still, there’s a right and a wrong way to handle it. Because, most of all, we were friends. Even if I couldn’t have understood it as a woman, I would have understood it as a friend.”
The couple managed to remain friends after calling it quits, and frequently spoke positively about each other, with Diddy praising Porter as an “incredible mother” in an interview with JET magazine. When Porter died from lobar pneumonia in November 2018 at age 47, Diddy wrote on Instagram that the pair were “more than best friends, we were more than soulmates. WE WERE SOME OTHER S**T!! I miss you so much.”
Undoubtedly, Diddy’s most high-profile relationship was with singer and actress Jennifer Lopez. The pair dated for two years, confirming their split on Valentine’s Day in 2001. Diddy gushed over the Jenny From the Block singer in 2017, telling Entertainment Tonight that “she is one of the flyest out there.” He has also said that Lopez was “without a doubt” one of his greatest loves, and they have reportedly remained on good terms since their split, reuniting at a party in 2018. When Lopez rekindled her relationship with Ben Affleck in 2021, Diddy seemingly taunted them by posting a throwback PDA pic via Instagram — only to later confirm that he wasn’t “trolling” the couple.
Following his split with Porter, Diddy entered into a relationship with singer Cassie, whose real name is Cassandra Ventura, in 2007. They were on-again-off-again for nearly a decade, calling it quits for the last time in 2018.
Diddy was also rumoured to be dating Naomi Campbell in 2002, but the duo never confirmed the romance. They are, however, friends – Diddy attended the supermodel’s 54th birthday party in November 2023. After Cassie sued Diddy that same month, Campbell deleted photos of him from her Instagram.
In 2021, Combs allegedly started dating City Girls rapper Yung Miami. Diddy was also romantically linked to model Lori Harvey in 2019, after the pair were seen taking a stroll through New York City’s SoHo neighbourhood together. A month later, they were spotted on holiday with Harvey’s parents, Marjorie and Steve Harvey, in Italy.
The following year, Combs fathered another child with cybersecurity professional and model Dana Tran, though the pair have never confirmed a relationship "I'm so blessed to welcome my baby girl Love Sean Combs to the world," he wrote on X. "Mama Combs, Quincy, Justin, Christian, Chance, D'Lila, Jessie and myself all love you so much! God is the Greatest!"
An arrest with JLo, rumours about Biggy and Tupac — a litany of legal scandals
Combs has been involved in a number of legal spats, including numerous arrests and assault allegations, and an infamous incident involving his ex-girlfriend Jennifer Lopez.
In the Nineties, Combs was involved in one of the most notorious rivalries in music, between East Coast and West Coast rap. When either side’s star artists were shot dead – Death Row’s Tupac Shakur in September 1996 and Biggie Smalls, aka the Notorious B.I.G., in March 1997 – many speculated that the feud could have been the cause. Both sides have denied that theory, and no connection has ever been established. However, the rumours have followed Combs throughout his career.
In April 1999, Combs was charged with assaulting Steve Stoute of Interscope Records. Stoute was the manager for rapper Nas, with whom Combs had filmed a video earlier that year for the song "Hate Me Now". Combs thought that the video, which featured a shot of Nas and Combs being crucified, was blasphemous. He asked for the scenes on the cross to be taken out, but after the video aired unedited on MTV, Combs visited Stoute's offices and injured Stoute.
In the same year, Combs, who was with his then-girlfriend Jennifer Lopez and his protege rapper Shyne, found themselves amidst chaos when gunfire erupted at Club New York in Times Square, Manhattan. The altercation stemmed from an argument between Combs and another club-goer. Both Combs and Shyne were apprehended on charges related to weapons possession and other offenses. Combs faced four charges linked to firearms and was also accused of attempting to bribe his driver to claim ownership of his gun.
In August 2007, Gerard Rechnitzer filed a lawsuit against Combs alleging battery, claiming that Combs had assaulted him outside a Hollywood nightclub. Rechnitzer maintained that he was assaulted when he approached Combs while the rap mogul was engaged in conversation with his girlfriend. The lawsuit was resolved through a settlement with undisclosed terms in March 2008.
Speaking of his various legal woes, Combs said in an interview: "It's been hard, but I've dealt with it all through God... I did go to see a couple of people, just to talk. I had to, because that's how hurt I was inside. I was in real pain."
‘There were always girls around’ – mentoring Usher and Justin Bieber
Diddy quickly became known as a figure in the industry who could make or break careers, and took on a host of mentees. One of whom was R&B singer Usher, nine years Combs’ junior. The pair met met after the R&B singer signed a record deal with LA Reid, who reportedly sent him to live with Combs when he was only 13.
In a 2004 interview with Rolling Stone, Usher recalled how Diddy introduced him to “a totally different set of s*** — sex, specifically”.
Usher went on to recall how “there [were] always girls around. You’d open a door and see somebody doing it, or several people in a room having an orgy. You never knew what was going to happen.”
Years later, in an interview with Howard Stern, Usher described the experience as “pretty wild”, saying he witnessed “curious things”, but emphasising that it was the Nineties. “Do you understand what that’s like?”
“I went there to see the lifestyle,” he continued. “And I saw it. But I don’t know if I could indulge and understand what I was even looking at. It was pretty wild. It was crazy.”
“You’re a dad now. Would you ever send your kid to a Puffy camp?” Stern asked him. “Hell no,” Usher replied.
In 2009, Combs spent time mentoring a 15-year-old Justin Bieber too, including appearing to promise him a car and house. Combs was 39 at the time. Recently, a 14-year-old video from Bieber’s YouTube channel has re-emerged in which Diddy talks about spending “48-hours” with the singer.
“You ever seen the movie 48 Hrs? Right now [Justin is] having 48 hours with Diddy, him and his boy,” the rapper says in the video.
“They’re having the times of their lives, like where we hanging out and what we’re doing we can’t really disclose. But it’s definitely a 15-year-old’s dream.”
“I have been given custody of him,” Diddy says. “You know, he’s signed to Usher and I had legal guardianship of Usher when he did his first album. I did Usher’s first album.”
Sexual assault allegations
In a lawsuit filed in November 2023, Cassie – full name Casandra Elizabeth Ventura – detailed horrifying claims about how Combs allegedly treated her during their relationship, and outside of it, citing multiple years of sexual and physical abuse. Cassie, who is now 37, had a successful solo career of her own in the 2000s, with her debut studio album reaching top four on the Billboard 200. She claims, though, that her career was controlled by Combs, who paid for her car, housing, and clothing, and exercised his control over her abusively.
In her claim, she accused Combs of regular abusive behaviour, including coercing her into taking drugs, forcing her to have sex with male prostitutes, and hitting her on numerous occasions. She also claimed that on one occasion in 2019, he forced his way into her home and raped her as she “repeatedly said ‘no’ and tried to push him away".
“She found herself becoming numb to the abuse she was experiencing, and became entirely beholden to Mr. Combs’s demands,” the complaint read. “She began to blindly follow his instructions out of fear of again being on the receiving end of a vicious beating.”
Once Cassie decided to fully end the relationship in September 2018 over dinner, she alleged Diddy forced his way into her home and raped her.
Shortly after filing her lawsuit, Cassie and Diddy’s legal teams reached an “amicable” settlement outside of court.
In response to Ventura’s suit, Combs’s lawyer Benjamin Brafman has said: “Mr Combs vehemently denies these offensive and outrageous allegations. For the past six months, Mr Combs has been subjected to Ms Ventura’s persistent demand of $30 million, under the threat of writing a damaging book about their relationship, which 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’s reputation and seeking a payday.”
Then, in February, producer Rodney Jones came forward, who alleged that Diddy repeatedly sexually assaulted him and forced him to sleep with sex workers. The lawsuit details one incident where the producer woke up in a bed with sex workers, believing he had been drugged by Combs.
Lil Rod also claims that he had to work in a bathroom while Combs showered and walked around naked.
Combs’s lawyer, Shawn Holley, branded the claims as “pure fiction”.
Feud with 50 Cent
50 Cent's former girlfriend and mother to one of his children was named as a sex worker in the multi-million dollar lawsuit being brought against Combs.
When news broke of the alleged raid on Diddy’s properties, 50 Cent, real name Curtis Jackson was quick to speak out on social media.
Diddy is subject to multiple sexual assault lawsuits including one from producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones. In that suit, Jones accuses Daphne Joy, who dated 50 Cent between 2010 and 2013 of being someone who Diddy regularly paid for sex. In 2012, Joy, a prominent OnlyFans model, gave birth to her and 50 Cent's son, Sire, now 11. When the couple broke up, Joy accused him of being physically abusive, something the singer has denied.
Since then, the In Da Club singer has regularly commented on a purported relationship between Diddy and Joy. He has also been outspoken on social media about the lawsuits against Diddy.
“Now it's not Diddy do it, it's Diddy done they don't come like that unless they got a case,” 50 Cent tweeted, this week. He has also said he will finance a documentary on the allegations.
“I can confirm that the untitled Diddy documentary is in development through G-Unit Film and Television with Curtis '50 Cent' Jackson serving as Executive Produce,” a spokesperson for the rapper told Billboard.
“Proceeds from this documentary that G-Unit Film & Television receives will go to victims of sexual assault and rape.”
The pair’s feud has a long history, dating back to 2006 when 50 Cent claimed that Combs knew who shot and killed rap pioneer The Notorious BIG in 1997. In 2010, Combs described Jackson as a “hating ass crap”.
