Editor’s Note: This story contains discussions of rape or sexual assault that may be disturbing. Reader discretion is advised. If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, you can find help and discreet resources on the National Sexual Assault Hotline website or by calling 1-800-656-4673.
A verdict was reached in the Sean “Diddy” Combs case. Read more here.
(NewsNation) — Sean “Diddy” Combs’ ex-partner Casandra “Cassie” Ventura testified for a second day Wednesday giving emotional and lurid details about the abuse she allegedly faced at the hands of the disgraced music mogul.
Ventura took the witness stand a little before 10 AM EST. This is the second day of questioning by the prosecution.
Ventura’s husband, Alex Fine, her brother and her attorney, Douglas Wigdor were in attendance.
Cassie testifies Diddy hurled vase of flowers at her in 2016 hotel attack
She testified that Combs threw a vase of flowers at her in March 2016 during the violent assault captured on video in a Los Angeles hotel.
“I just remember it coming towards me. I remember it hitting a wall,” Ventura explained.
After Combs assaulted Ventura in 2016 at the hotel, she said she took an Uber home. During the car ride, she took photos of the injuries she allegedly endured due to Combs’ vicious attack.
Jurors view photos of Cassie’s injuries
She said a friend was “super upset” to see the visible injuries because they had seen her previously with “black eyes and busted lips before.”
Ventura said her friend called the police, but once they arrived, she did not want to identify Combs.
“In that moment, I didn’t want to hurt him that way. I wasn’t ready,” said Ventura on the stand.
Ventura said Combs texted her frequently after the 2016 assault. She said the rapper told her she would “never hear my voice again” if she did not respond to him. She testified that Combs claimed the police were going to arrest him.
Photos of Ventura and Combs at a movie premiere shortly after the assault were shown to the jury.
Ventura detailed the bruises on her body and how she used makeup in an attempt to conceal the marks. She said she covered her black eye with sunglasses.
Cassie: Diddy threatened to release ‘Freak Off’ videos as blackmail
Ventura said Combs threatened her that he would release footage of her participating in choreographed, dayslong orgies he called “Freak Offs.” She was concerned it would “make me look like a slut,” she said. She feared the release of the sexually explicit material would be career-ending.
“I feared for my career. I feared for my family. It’s just embarrassing. It’s horrible and disgusting. No one should do that to anyone,” Ventura said.
Prosecutors asked Cassie if she attempted to fight back against Combs.
Ventura said she initially tried to combat Combs, but said fighting back could escalate the attacks further.
“It could escalate the fight more, make it worse for myself,” she said.
A binder of photos of male sex workers provided by the prosecution was shown to Ventura. She identified 13 male escorts and said she had sex with all of them at the request of Combs for “Freak Offs” in Las Vegas, Miami and Los Angeles. The singer could not remember all of the names; some only by their first names.
Cassie testifies she developed opioid addiction to cope with ‘Freak Offs’
Ventura said that she became reliant on opioids as a way to numb herself from enduring Combs’ requested “Freak Offs.”
She testified, “Opioids make me feel numb, which is why I relied on them so heavily.”
In addition to an opioid addiction, Ventura said she would have frequent urinary tract infections due to the sexual encounters.
She said that when the “Freak Offs” were over, she would feel “just really empty and I felt gross,” adding they “felt like I did my job.”
Her recovery from “Freak Offs” included IV fluids, massages and meals prepared by a chef.
Ventura said she experienced post-traumatic stress disorder prior to ending her relationship with Combs in 2018. She had episodes of sleepwalking and blacking out.
She said, “In my mind, my body was telling me I just needed to chill out.”
Diddy pressured Cassie to go to sex and swinger clubs: testimony
Ventura said that Combs wanted her to go to sex and swinger clubs in Las Vegas and Los Angeles, even though she was uncomfortable and did not want to go.
Ventura said Combs responded to her reluctance, saying it would “be a fun thing to do and we wouldn’t go for long.”
She said she had sex with a male sex worker, who previously participated in “Freak Offs” at a sex club.
Diddy allegedly attacked Cassie after she started dating Kid Cudi
When Combs learned that Ventura was dating rapper Kid Cudi, she said he lunged at her with a corkscrew and kicked her back.
Photos of her injuries from that incident were shown to jurors.
2013 altercation with Diddy left gash over Cassie’s eye, she says
Ventura said that in 2013, when she was packing to go to the Drake music festival, Combs got into an argument with one of her friends. She said he pushed her into a bed frame, which resulted in a “pretty significant gash” above her left eye.
A member of Combs’ team took her to a plastic surgeon to be stitched,” she said.
She said she took a photo of the injury and texted it to Combs with the message, “So you can remember.”
Combs allegedly responded, “You don’t know when to stop. You pushed it too far. And continued to push. Sad,” Ventura said.
Ventura testified that she told Combs he treated her like “Ike,” referencing the reported abusive nature of the relationship between Ike and Tina Turner.
During the lunch break, Tamara Holder, women’s rights and sexual abuse attorney, spoke to NewsNation about Ventura’s testimony.
“Cassie’s testimony is chilling and graphic. The prosecution brings the ‘I love you’ texts out to get in front of them; the defense will try to use these texts to say it was consensual and she was into all of it. She helps the jury understand coercive control. The idea that you love someone who abuses you, and how you can’t escape the imbalance of the power dynamic,” Holder told NewsNation.
Holder continued, “This is the prosecution’s opportunity to paint Diddy as the worst monster ever before the defense gets to cross-examine her. They’re going to have to be careful as she is pregnant, credible and a victim of domestic abuse. It could backfire.”
Jury shown still images from ‘Freak Offs’
The prosecution showed the jurors five still images, originally from recovered videos, of Ventura with male escorts at various stages of sexual encounters, which Ventura provided to investigators. Ventura explained to jurors what was occurring in the images.
The images were only shown in the jury box monitors and the witness stand. Printed copies were provided by the prosecution to the judge and the defense.
Cassie testifies to a pattern of alleged abuse from Diddy
Ventura detailed the alleged violence she endured from Combs.
In the beginning of their relationship in 2007, Ventura said she and the record label executive were out with friends when she noticed him flirting with someone else. Another person noticed Combs flirting, and Ventura says she shrugged her shoulders. This led to a violent attack from Combs, she said.
“He knocked me around and was just hitting me,” Ventura said. “I was just shocked. I didn’t necessarily understand what happened and why he was so angry.” She said Combs hit her on her head. Then, she returned home and “hid out after that.”
She said that she concealed the abuse from her family. During her testimony, she recalled going home for Christmas in 2011 with bruises on her body after Combs allegedly attacked her and lying to her mother that it was only the first time Combs had hit her.
“I couldn’t hurt her like that. And it was terrifying. It’s not normal, constantly being bruised up by the person you love, who says they love you,” Ventura said.
Other Diddy accusers nervous about testifying
Lawyers for Combs’ accusers spoke to the judge during the lunch break, saying their clients are very nervous about testifying.
Michael Ferrara, a lawyer for an accuser who will testify under the name “Mia,” told the judge she will need emotional assistance throughout her time on the stand.
He said, “Candidly, her nerves are through the roof. I don’t know how to support her if we can’t discuss the pain she’s going to experience from having to tell the world about her worst experiences.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.