A day after the pop singer known as Cassie filed an extensive lawsuit against music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, her ex-boyfriend of 11 years, whom she accused of ongoing physical and emotional abuse and rape, the two sides announced a settlement.
“I have decided to resolve this matter amicably on terms that I have some level of control. I want to thank my family, fans and lawyers for their unwavering support,” Cassie, whose real name is Casandra Ventura, said in a statement late Friday.
Combs issued his own statement, saying: “We have decided to resolve this matter amicably. I wish Cassie and her family all the best. Love.” His lawyer, Ben Brafman, added in a separate statement that “a decision to settle a lawsuit, especially in 2023, is in no way an admission of wrongdoing. Mr. Combs‘ decision to settle the lawsuit does not in any way undermine his flat-out denial of the claims.”
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No details about the terms of the settlement were disclosed. The sudden resolution came a day after Cassie alleged in a lawsuit that she “was held down by Mr. Combs and endured over a decade of his violent behavior and disturbed demands.” She allegedly survived a “cycle of abuse, violence, and sex trafficking,” that included “violent and unlawful acts” such as being forced to have sex with male prostitutes while Combs watched and filmed the acts.
She even alleged in her suit that the mogul once became so incensed about her dating Kid Cudi, he vowed to blow up Cudi’s car. And Cudi’s car did indeed explode shortly afterwards, according to the rapper.
But this is far from the first time accusations about Combs’ allegedly damaging behavior in relationships have come to light.
Jennifer Lopez dated Combs in the 90s. While Lopez has never accused Combs of abuse, in 1999, the pair were arrested together on a weapons charge after a triple shooting at a Manhattan nightclub. Lopez was charged with possession of a firearm, but the count was dropped within the hour. Ventura’s suit alleges that at times, Combs asked Cassie to carry a gun in her purse.
Below are more stories about Combs’ alleged abuse that have begun to resurface since the bombshell suit was filed on Thursday.
Gina Huynh
In 2019, Gina Huynh, another ex of Combs’, said in a podcast interview that when she and the mogul were together, Combs had “stomped on my stomach really hard—like, took the wind out of my breath. I couldn’t breathe. He kept hitting me. I was pleading to him, ‘Can you just stop? I can’t breathe.’”
Next, Huynh said, Combs grabbed her hair and started punching her in the back of the head, prompting her to start fighting back.
“He was mentally, emotionally and physically abusing me,” Huynh told the interviewer, blogger Tasha K, adding that people around Combs knew of the abuse and allowed it to continue. “He would always compare me to Cassie and tell me that I’m the bad one, she’s a good one.”
Huynh also said that Combs offered her $5,000 to get an abortion when she became pregnant with his child.
Cindy Rueda
In 2017, Combs was sued by a former personal chef who said she often had to work long hours without receiving overtime pay and that she was forced to serve Combs a “post coital meal.” In her suit Rueda named Huynh, saying that she walked in on Combs and Huynh having sex after being asked to prepare breakfast for the two, knocking on their bedroom door and then entering; her suit also stated that Combs and his associates asked her multiple sexually-oriented questions.
Danity Kane
Members of Danity Kane, a pop group crafted on Combs’ “Making the Band 3” show that had a handful of hits in the 2000s, have begun to speak out against Combs, and in defense of Ventura. “Praying for Cassie and her family, for peace and healing,” singer Dawn Richard posted. “Been trynna tell y’all for years. Prayers up for this queen 🙌🏼 @cassie,” Danity Kane singer Aubrey O’Day posted on Instagram on Thursday, “I’m in complete support of her,” Kane also told Page Six.
O’Day said on the Call Her Daddy podcast in 2022 that she was fired from Danity Kane because she “wasn’t willing to do what was expected of [her]—not talent-wise, but in other areas...[Combs] was the hardest person that you can work for, and it was torture. And not the work part of it, but the other stuff—mind games.”
In another interview, O’Day said Combs firing her from the band for being “promiscuous” (O’Day said she was a virgin until her senior year of college) was a “power move” that Richard labeled “extremely sexist.”
Misa Hyalton
Combs’s ex-girlfriend, with whom he shared a 29-year-old son, posted a cryptic message this past June that appeared to be directed at Combs on Instagram this summer, after their son was charged with a DUI: “Everyone has to sit around for years and act like there isn’t anything wrong with you. This is where the buck stops for me.”
