Cassie told Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs ‘I’m not a rag doll’ after 2016 hotel assault

By MICHAEL R. SISAK and LARRY NEUMEISTER
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — R&B singer Cassie delved further into text messages with former boyfriend Sean “Diddy” Combs during her cross-examination in the music mogul’s sex trafficking trial Friday, saying she told him “I’m not a rag doll. I’m somebody’s child” after he beat her at a Los Angeles hotel in 2016.

But just days later as they tried to recover from the episode, she and Combs were expressing love for each other again in messages read aloud in court during a second day of cross-examination in Manhattan, with Cassie saying in one text: “We need a different vibe from Friday.”

In the “rag doll” text, Cassie, whose legal name is Casandra Ventura, complained to him that he was out of control from drugs and alcohol that day. After hotel security video of the assault was released last year, Combs apologized and said he was “disgusted” by his actions.

The defense on Friday also tried to discredit Cassie’s claim that Combs raped her in 2018 after she ended their nearly 11-year relationship.

Federal prosecutors allege Combs exploited his status as a music executive and businessman to force women including Cassie into drug-fueled encounters with male sex workers that he called “freak-offs,” which Combs watched and directed. Several other accusers of Combs are expected to testify at the trial.

Cassie, the prosecution’s star witness, has testified that she was ashamed and loathed taking part in “hundreds” of such encounters that sometimes went on for days. But she said she felt compelled because Combs threatened her with violence and warned he would publicly release videos of her in the freak-offs if she made him angry.

However, Combs’ lawyers want the jury to see Cassie as a willing and eager participant in his sexual lifestyle. He has pleaded not guilty to federal sex trafficking and racketeering charges. His defense says that, although he could be violent, nothing he did amounted to a criminal enterprise. And Combs insists all the sex at the freak-offs was consensual.

Cassie testimony stretches into a fourth day

Cassie, who is pregnant and nearing her due date, was testifying for a fourth straight day at the trial, and her second day under cross-examination. On Thursday, the defense had her read aloud explicit and lurid messages she sent Combs during their relationship, including some in which she expressed enthusiasm for the freak-offs.

The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly, as Cassie has.

Security video of the 2016 hotel beating is key evidence for the prosecution. It shows Combs hurling Cassie to the floor, kicking her and dragging her in a hotel hallway. Cassie testified that the assault took place as she was trying to leave a freak-off.

On Thursday, Estevao presented Cassie with sexual texts she sent Combs in the lead-up to the Los Angeles hotel encounter.

Defense scrutinizes 2018 rape claim against Combs

Estevao also raised questions on Friday about Cassie’s rape claim against Combs, noting that Cassie gave differing descriptions of his demeanor and the timing of the alleged assault in interviews with investigators and in her trial testimony.

Cassie contends the rape happened at her Los Angeles home after she and Combs had dinner in Malibu, California, to discuss their breakup, either in August or September 2018.

While Cassie testified this week that Combs was “really nice” and “playful” at the dinner, Estevao pointed out that Cassie told investigators in 2023 that Combs had been “acting very strangely” that night. Cassie clarified, “Nice, but strangely.”

Cassie also testified this week that Combs, during the dinner, was trying to get her to go to the Burning Man festival in Nevada, but previously told investigators that the dinner and rape happened after Combs returned from Burning Man.

Cassie acknowledged she stayed in touch with Combs and had consensual sex with him a few weeks after she says he raped her.

In text messages exchanged in the aftermath of their breakup, Cassie told Combs: “I do love you. I would just prefer not being one of your girlfriends anymore.”

Jurors hear Cassie threatening a friend who saw her sex video

Jurors on Friday also heard a 2013 recording of Cassie screaming at a friend who said he’d seen a video of her performing sex acts. In the recording, made by Cassie, the man claimed to have the video on his phone. Cassie is heard pleading to see the video and then threatening to kill him if it became public.

“I’ve never killed anyone in my life, but I will kill you,” Cassie told the man, punctuating her threats with profanity.

Cassie acknowledged in her testimony that Combs subsequently made efforts to keep the video private.

Cassie asked about her time in a treatment center

Estevao also questioned Cassie about her weeks-long stint in a treatment center for women in 2023. Estevao noted the center offered treatment for sex addiction, sexual compulsion and love addiction, and she asked Cassie if she was treated for any of those things.

Cassie replied that she was not, but rather was there for therapy to help her process trauma. She testified earlier that she experienced post-traumatic stress disorder before breaking up with Combs in 2018, and was blacking out and sleepwalking. She also said she broke down in 2023 and tried to walk into traffic outside her home, but her husband Alex Fine stopped her.

Cassie also testified Friday that she broke up with Combs for good in August 2018 after she saw a photo of him with another woman he’d been dating for the last few years. Soon after, Cassie said, she started dating Fine.

Much of the key testimony traced the history of the end of the relationship between Combs and Cassie and the role jealousy played in it. Estevao later said she expected the cross-examination to end Friday afternoon.

Before the trial resumed, prosecutors asked the judge to make sure Cassie’s testimony ends on Friday They said there’s a risk of a mistrial if Cassie was called back to the witness stand on Monday but went into labor over the weekend.

Combs, 55, has been jailed since September. He faces at least 15 years in prison if convicted.

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Associated Press writer Dave Collins in Hartford, Connecticut, contributed to this report.