Cassie’s testimony continues on Wednesday. Follow updates from the trial here.

(NewsNation) — Casandra “Cassie” Ventura has taken the stand in the trial against Sean “Diddy” Combs, her ex-partner, who allegedly was caught on camera beating her in a hotel hallway in 2016.

Footage reportedly showing Ventura being assaulted by Combs has been allowed by the judge for jurors to watch. The hotel surveillance video has been called a “smoking gun” by legal experts.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Johnson asked Ventura about her relationship with Combs, and she stated it went from good to abusive.

“If they were violent arguments, it would usually result in some sort of physical abuse and dragging, just different things,” Ventura told jurors.

She claimed Combs would drag her, kick her and stomp her in the head. When asked how often this happened, she responded, “Too frequently.”

Cassie testifies about Diddy’s ‘Freak Offs’

Ventura was asked about the sex parties called “Freak Offs,” which the prosecution claims were orchestrated by Combs. She said they would hire an escort to set up “this experience so that I could perform for Sean (Combs).”

She said the 2016 hotel hallway video came after a “Freak Off” and she was attempting to leave.

During her first “Freak Off” in 2008, Ventura testified that she was 22 years old and was “confused, nervous, but also loved him very much.”

 “I just remember my stomach falling to my butt. Just the nervousness and confusion in that moment,” she said.

Ventura claimed she often couldn’t say no to Combs, afraid of threats of blackmail and violence. She claimed Combs threatened to post videos on the internet if she didn’t follow his instructions.

“Sean controlled a lot of my life, whether it was career, the way I dressed, everything, everything. I just didn’t have much say in it at the time,” she said.

“Sean is a really polarizing person, also really charming,” Ventura also said. “It’s hard to really be able to decide in that moment what you need when he’s telling you what he wants. I just didn’t know. I didn’t know what would happen.”

She insisted throughout Tuesday’s testimony that Combs was the one making decisions about the “Freak Offs,” including who would participate and what would be included.

 Ventura said the “Freak Offs” could last as long as four days.

“The freak offs became a job,” Ventura told the jury in Combs’ federal sex crimes trial.

Ventura claimed they were typically 36 to 48-hour affairs, with some lasting longer. They would require frequent breaks due to dehydration and drug and alcohol use. Combs would rent out hotels under various aliases like Jackie Star, Frank Black or Frank White for “Freak Off’s,” she testified.

Ventura told the jury she used drugs each time she participated in a freak off.

“For me it was dissociative and numbing. I couldn’t imagine myself doing any of that without having some sort of buffer or way to not feel it for what it really was, which was emotionless sex with a stranger that I didn’t really want to have sex with,” she said.

Ventura named several men who were paid to participate in “Freak Offs,” including Daniel Phillip, who testified on Monday and Tuesday.

Those “Freak Offs” would sometimes be recorded and were on some devices that Combs’s staff had access to.

She said she participated in “Freak Offs” for about a decade, with the last one in 2017 or 2018. By that time, they were occurring weekly, Venutra testified.

Each “Freak Off” would need about 10 large-sized bottles of baby oil, Ventura testified.

“It was such a mess,” she said. “It was like, ‘What are we doing?’”

Diddy and Cassie’s relationship became controlling, sometimes violent: testimony

Ventura testified that her relationship with Combs began as a platonic one, but that changed after he kissed her in a bathroom on her 21st birthday in Las Vegas.

She had signed a deal with Combs’ music label, Bad Boy Records, in 2006 and the couple kept their relationship private.

“I was just enamored by him. We were just having a good time. It was really fun, at this point,” she said.

After the Vegas trip, she said Combs invited her to hotels in New York to discuss music. At the time, she thought they were in a monogamous relationship, but in her testimony Tuesday, she said, “Sean Combs had many girlfriends.”

“I didn’t get that he was him. As he would say, ‘I’m Puff Daddy. Puff Daddy has many rules. Likes the company of women,’” Ventura said.

Over time she testified that Combs became over-controlling, and at times, he would involve his security staff to contact her.

She claimed that if Combs didn’t like the way she looked or didn’t like her attitude, he would get abusive with her.

“You make the wrong face and the next thing I knew I was getting hit in the face,” she said.

She broke down in tears during her testimony about the “Freak Offs,” stating it was the only one-on-one time she really received with Combs.

Ventura testified that Combs paid her rent at her apartments in New York and Los Angeles. He had his own set of keys and would often make unannounced visits.

Some of Cassie’s music was never released

Ventura testified that because so much of her time was spent participating in “Freak Offs,” her music career suffered.

She claimed she created hundreds of songs, some of which were released on the internet without “proper release and some just didn’t see the light of day.”

“Freak offs became a job where there was no space to do anything else but to recover and just try to feel normal again,” Ventura said.

Tamara Holder, a women’s rights and sexual abuse attorney, told NewsNation during the court’s lunch break that Ventura’s testimony so far is helping the jury “get to see a real person behind the video.”

“She’s credible. She presents well to the jury. But it all comes down to how well she holds up on cross-examination,” Holder said.

She added that the testimony is designed to show the jury the prosecution’s claim that participation was not consensual.

Holder said it is likely Combs’ legal team will “attempt to crucify her, saying this case is about love, jealousy, infidelity, and money. So that’s what we can expect from cross-examination.”

Diddy grabbed guns to confront Suge Knight, Cassie claims

Combs allegedly armed himself and a bodyguard to confront his rival music producer, Suge Knight, after one of his “Freak Off” sex parties, Ventura testified Tuesday.

She claimed Combs left the “Freak Off” at his Los Angeles home to confront Knight, who was allegedly at Mel’s Drive-In, a local landmark diner.

Ventura testified that Combs kept money and guns in safes all across his homes.

After he learned about where Knight was, Combs and a bodyguard dressed in black and armed themselves, Cassie testified.

“I was crying. I was screaming, like ‘Please don’t do anything stupid,’” Ventura said. “I was really nervous for them. I didn’t know what they were going to do.”

Ventura said Combs returned later that evening, and it was unclear if he had actually confronted Knight.

In another incident, she says Combs handed her a gun while she was high on mushrooms. She was afraid the gun would go off, and viewed it as some kind of scare tactic, Ventura testified.

Cassie delivers testimony while pregnant

Ventura is delivering her testimony while late in the third trimester of her pregnancy. She’s expecting her third child.

She often rubbed her stomach while answering the prosecution’s questions, and spoke in a soft, nervous tone.

The judge ruled that Ventura’s husband, Alex Fine, could be in court for some of the singer’s testimony, but would need to leave when she depicted acts of rape.

Her brother and attorney were also in the courtroom on Tuesday.

Fine is expected to testify himself later in the trial, called by the defense team in an effort to dispute Ventura’s testimony.

Prosecutors argued that Fine is part of the emotional support system for Cassie and should be in the courtroom when she testifies.

Tuesday was the first time Combs and Ventura met face to face in six years. She is expected to testify through the rest of the week.

Cassie’s lawsuit against Diddy alleged rape, abuse

Ventura filed a civil lawsuit against Combs in 2023,  alleging in New York federal court that he brought her into his “ostentatious, fast-paced, and drug-fueled lifestyle” when she was just 19 and he was 37. In the lawsuit, Ventura detailed a yearslong relationship that included beatings and rapes, saying that a pattern of abuse began as soon as the relationship started.

That lawsuit was settled out of court shortly after it was filed.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.