Cassie Breaks Silence On Video Showing Diddy Attacking Her
Cassie Ventura has broken her silence days after a disturbing hotel surveillance video that showed Sean “Diddy” Combs violently assaulting her in 2016 was released by CNN.
The singer-songwriter released a statement on Instagram on Thursday thanking those who have since showered her with love and support.
“The outpouring of love has created a place for my younger self to settle and feel safe now, but this is only the beginning,” she wrote. “Domestic Violence is THE issue. It broke me down to someone I never thought I would become.”
“With a lot of hard work, I am better today, but I will always be recovering from my past,” she continued.
Ventura then called on the public to “open your heart to believing victims the first time.”
“It takes a lot of heart to tell the truth out of a situation that you were powerless in,” she said. “I offer my hand to those that are still living in fear. Reach out to your people, don’t cut them off. No one should carry this weight alone.”
She continued, “This healing journey is never ending, but this support means everything to me. Thank you.”
The upsetting footage showed Ventura walking down a hallway to a floor’s elevator lobby in the now-closed InterContinental Hotel Century City in Los Angeles before Combs finds her and grabs her by the neck and throws her to the ground.
The rapper — who’s wearing a towel around his waist in the video — is then seen kicking and dragging Ventura and later shoving her in a corner and throwing an object at her off-camera.
The surveillance video corroborated claims from a lawsuit Ventura filed against the media mogul in late 2023. The suit contained allegations of repeated physical and sexual abuse by Combs.
The Bad Boy Records founder, whose on-again-off-again relationship with Ventura started in the early 2000s when she was 19 and he was 37, settled her lawsuit against him one day after she filed it in November.
Ben Brafman, an attorney for Combs, said at the time that the rapper “vehemently denies” the allegations.
Combs has since faced several other lawsuits from more accusers who claim he was violent or sexually abusive, among other allegations. In March, federal agents raided properties linked to him.
Two days after the hotel surveillance video was made public, Combs posted a one-minute apology video on his Instagram account saying he was “disgusted” with himself and was taking “full responsibility” for his actions in the video.
Ventura’s husband, Alex Fine, spoke out about the surveillance footage in a statement on Instagram last week, writing, “Men who hit women aren’t men.”
“Men who enable it and protect those people aren’t men,” he wrote. “As men violence against women shouldn’t be inevitable, check your brothers, your friends, and your family.”
Need help? In the U.S., call 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) for the National Domestic Violence Hotline.
