Cassie Ventura takes the stand: Biggest moments from her Diddy trial testimony
- Cassie Ventura Fine, who dated Sean "Diddy" Combs on and off between 2007 and 2018, testified in his trial from May 13-16.
- The former singer, who was signed to Combs' Bad Boy Records label, said she'd settled her 2023 lawsuit against him for $20 million — but would give it up if it meant erasing years of "freak offs."
- In her testimony, Ventura Fine was asked about alleged incidents with Suge Knight and her ex-boyfriend Kid Cudi.
This story contains graphic descriptions that some readers may find disturbing.
While taking the stand in her ex-boyfriend Sean "Diddy" Combs' criminal trial, over the course of four days Casandra Ventura Fine brought forward new details about the abuse she allegedly faced in their decade-long relationship.
The "Me & U" singer, professionally known as Cassie, testified May 13-16 and laid bare the raw details of their complicated relationship, including her participation in alleged drug-fueled sexual performances labeled "freak offs," the physical and emotional abuse she said she faced just a few years into their relationship, and the violence she allegedly witnessed while with Combs.
Explaining why she decided to testify, Ventura Fine told the court, "I can't carry this anymore. I can’t carry the shame, the guilt." In a statement issued after the conclusion of her testimony, she said, "I hope that my testimony has given strength and a voice to other survivors and can help others who have suffered to speak up and also heal from the abuse and fear."
These were the biggest moments from her time on the witness stand.
Diddy on Trial newsletter: Step inside the courtroom with Paste BN as Sean 'Diddy' Combs faces sex crimes and trafficking charges. Subscribe to the newsletter
Diddy was hospitalized for an overdose in 2012
On her third day of testimony, Ventura Fine revealed the extent of her and Combs' drug use in their decade together. Combs was once hospitalized due to "a very strong" opiate, she told defense lawyers, revealing the incident occurred around the time Whitney Houston died in February 2012.
After a "freak off," the pair had gone to a sex club in San Bernardino, California, Ventura Fine said, then Combs went to a party at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles, but she went home. When he overdosed on painkillers later that night, she said she'd taken him to the hospital.
Combs would use drugs "daily," Ventura Fine testified. On May 14, during questioning from the prosecution, she said she'd seen Combs use ecstasy, cocaine, marijuana, ketamine and GHB. Combs got prescriptions for opiates from doctors in "anybody's name … whoever's name hadn't been used a lot," she testified.
Cassie expects $10 million from hotel where Combs attacked her
Under questioning by Combs' lawyer Anna Estevao on May 16, Ventura Fine said she'd made a legal demand of the company that owned the since-shuttered InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles' Century City neighborhood.
She hasn't received any money yet, but she testified that she expects roughly "$10 million, maybe" after reaching the end of negotiations over the past month. IHG Hotels & Resorts declined to comment.
Cassie and Diddy settled her 2023 lawsuit for $20 million
Toward the end of her second day of testimony, Ventura Fine delved into the years following her and Combs' 2018 breakup.
As she was involved in writing a book about her experience, she wanted Combs to read it so he would understand what she went through in their relationship. She said she'd reached out to him through her lawyer, asking him to read the draft and offer compensation.
She said she'd put a $30 million price tag on him acquiring the rights to her book, and this was an amount she thought would affect him. But after he allegedly failed to respond, she sued him in November 2023, alleging he had trafficked, sexually assaulted and physically abused her.
The two came to an agreement by the following day and announced Ventura Fine would dismiss the lawsuit following an unspecified settlement.
It was finally revealed on May 14 that the settlement amounted to $20 million, paid for by Combs and his companies.
Cassie would give up $20 million to erase the 'freak offs'
However, on May 16, Ventura Fine said she would give up all $20 million if it meant erasing her worst experiences.
Upon questioning by Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Johnson, Ventura Fine teared up as she confirmed, "I would give that money back if I never had to have 'freak offs.'"
As she started to sob, she continued, "I would have had agency and autonomy. I wouldn't have to work so hard to get it back."
Kim Porter's funeral was the last time Cassie and Diddy met
On May 15, Combs' attorneys asked Cassie about Kim Porter, Combs' on-and-off partner from the 1990s into the 2000s who is also the mother to four of Combs' seven children. "Were you jealous of Ms. Porter?" Combs' lawyer Anna Estevao asked. Ventura Fine replied on the stand, "I had some jealousy, yes."
The court saw text messages between Ventura Fine and Combs from when they both flew to Georgia for Porter's memorial service in November 2018, which ended up being the last time the two interacted in-person.
When Combs texted asking why Ventura Fine left the service without saying goodbye, she insisted she did and wrote, "I know how crazy and painful all this is." But, she added, "you posted that Kim was your soulmate. What was the 11 years all about?"
The defense asked whether Ventura Fine found that "extremely hurtful," and she said "yes." Combs tried to get in touch through mutual friends afterward, but she rebuffed his advances, she said.
"And he let you go?" Estevao asked. Ventura Fine replied, "I don’t know about 'letting me go.'"
Cassie went to rehab for addiction, trauma therapy after Diddy breakup
Years after ending her decade-long relationship with Combs, Ventura Fine was partaking in trauma therapy, had sought help for her opiate addiction multiple times and experienced suicidal ideation.
After seeking treatment for her opiate use "five or six times," her last use was in 2022, she said May 14. She has been taking buprenorphine as part of her treatment.
In early 2023, around the time she went to rehab for opiate addiction and trauma therapy, Ventura Fine recalled "spinning out" and "didn't want to be alive anymore at that point." On May 16, she said in 2024 she had been admitted to Willow House – an Arizona addiction treatment center – where she underwent neuro-feedback therapy "to help me with my trauma." She also did eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy to help her recount memories and process them.
Cassie details Diddy's jealousy over Kid Cudi relationship
As expected, Ventura Fine testified that Combs' violence extended to other people, including Kid Cudi, whom she briefly dated in 2011 during a break in her relationship with Combs. She broke up with the rapper/producer, whose real name is Scott Mescudi, to protect him, she told the court on May 14.
After Combs found out about the relationship by reading emails on her phone, he was "so irate" that as she attempted to "resolve" the issue with him, he allegedly kicked her in the back, leaving a large bruise.
Combs told Ventura Fine – as she alleged in her 2023 lawsuit – that he'd blow up Mescudi's car and that he wanted Mescudi's friends to see it happen, she testified. (Rolling Stone previously reported a Los Angeles City Fire Department report confirmed Kid Cudi’s Porsche was set on fire by an “incendiary device” on Jan. 9, 2012, in Los Angeles.)
Using an alias email, Ventura Fine told her mother and Combs' assistant, Capricorn Clark, about Combs' threats of releasing explicit footage of her as retaliation. She lied to her mom, telling her the kick in the back was the first time Combs had assaulted her.
Later, Combs, Ventura Fine and Mescudi met at SoHo House to discuss the latter two no longer being romantically involved. "What about my vehicle?" Mescudi asked, according to Cassie's testimony. "What vehicle?" Combs responded.
Cassie recalls Suge Knight incident with Diddy
Ventura Fine told the court on May 13 that Combs left his house amid one "freak off" in Los Angeles after being tipped off by a bodyguard that former Death Row Records CEO Suge Knight was at a diner nearby. Knight is one of Combs' longtime music industry rivals, with tensions dating back to the 1990s around the deaths of Knight's Death Row artist and West Coast rapper Tupac Shakur and Combs' rap protégé the Notorious B.I.G.
Ventura Fine said she told Combs, "Please don't do anything stupid" as she screamed and cried in fear.
The testimony came as Ventura Fine was talking about weapons allegedly stored in Combs' homes. She said she was handed a gun at the time to hold in her purse, though she did not say Combs gave her the weapon. She added Combs and his security guard "D-Roc" packed guns from his safe and put them on their bodies before they left.
Ventura Fine shed more light on the alleged confrontation between Combs and Knight during cross-examination on May 15. Combs' attorneys challenged Ventura Fine's account, citing an alleged conversation she had with prosecutors in June 2024, during which she said she remembered "being brought along in a car and crying" when Combs and D-Roc reportedly went to Mel's Diner to confront Knight.
When asked about the discrepancy in her recollection of the alleged event, Ventura Fine said, "It could be a misunderstanding because that never happened."
Kerry Morgan and Cassie: Singer testifies that model friend endured abuse
Ventura Fine's former friend Kerry Morgan was named in court on May 13, after the model was mentioned in her 2023 civil lawsuit involving Combs. In one alleged incident cited in the lawsuit, Combs entered Ventura Fine's house unannounced and got in an "altercation" with Morgan.
During the alleged incident, Combs threw a hanger at Morgan, later paying a settlement after the fact. Cassie also paid additional funds to Morgan after the incident, but their relationship has been "strained" since.
Voyeurism meaning
The singer said she was 22, and within the first six months to a year of their relationship, when Combs introduced her to "freak offs." He described it as voyeurism, where he would hire an escort "so that I could perform for Sean," the singer told the court May 13. She testified that it was "a fantasy that he had," and he liked watching her interact with another man, whether it was a stranger, an escort or a dancer.
"I was shocked. I wasn't expecting that," she said. "I didn't want to upset him if I told him I was scared of it."
Voyeurism is the practice or sexual interest in observing others in intimate moments, including during sexual activity and undressing.
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence, RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline offers free, confidential, 24/7 support to survivors and their loved ones in English and Spanish at: 800.656.HOPE (4673) and Hotline.RAINN.org and en Español RAINN.org/es.
If you or someone you know is struggling with mental and/or substance use disorders, you can call the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's free and confidential treatment referral and information service at 1-800-662-HELP (4357). It's available 24/7 in English and Spanish (TTY: 1-800-487-4889).
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org.
This story was updated to add new information.
Contributing: Paste BN staff