‘Stomp me in the head': Diddy's ex-girlfriend Cassie testifies about abuse, ‘freak offs'

Warning: The video above and story below contain graphic content.

The R&B singer and former girlfriend of , testified Tuesday that the mercurial music mogul — powerful, abusive and controlling — beat her mercilessly and ordered her to have “disgusting” sex with strangers during drug-fueled, multi-day marathons he called “freak offs.”

, whose legal name is Casandra Ventura, sniffled and dabbed her eyes with a tissue, sighed heavily and paused to compose herself through about five hours of testimony at Combs' sex trafficking trial.

In humiliating detail, she recounted a turbulent 10-year relationship with Combs that she said was consumed by violence and his obsession with a form of voyeurism where “he was controlling the whole situation." That included directing her encounters with male sex workers right down to the copious amounts of baby oil she applied to maintain the “glistening” look he desired.

The "Me & U" singer told jurors that his demands for her to engage in sometimes-revolting sex acts — sometimes as he watched from another room via FaceTime — left her feeling “heavily objectified." But, she said, she endured them because she was in love with Combs.

At the same time, Cassie said, Combs controlled every aspect of her life, from her career to her living arrangements, and she didn’t feel like she could tell him “no.”

When she did try to leave, she said, Combs punished her — most notably in a 2016 assault captured on a security camera at a Los Angeles hotel. In the video, played in court for a fifth time, Combs is seen hitting, kicking and attempting to drag her back to their room. After the footage was leaked last year, Combs apologized.

Asked how many other times Combs had knocked her to the ground, Cassie replied: “Too many to count.”

Due to give birth soon to her third child, Cassie occasionally rested her hands on her pregnant belly as she testified. Her supporters in the courtroom included her husband, Alex Fine.

She is scheduled to return to the witness stand Wednesday morning. After prosecutors are done questioning her, Combs' lawyers will get their turn.

Cassie sued Combs in 2023 alleging years of abuse. The suit was settled within hours, but was followed by dozens of similar legal claims and touched off a criminal investigation.

Prosecutors allege the three-time Grammy winner used his fame and fortune to orchestrate a deviant empire of exploitation, coercing women into abusive sex parties. His lawyers argue that, although he could be violent, he never veered into sex trafficking and racketeering. They contend all sexual acts were consensual.

An attorney for Combs, Teny Geragos, told the jury during opening statements that Combs’ accusers were after his money, adding that jurors might think he’s a “jerk” and might not condone his “kinky sex,” but that “he’s not charged with being a jerk.”

Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty. He interacted with his lawyers but remained largely stoic as Cassie testified. During a break, he made a heart shape with his hands and mouthed “thank you” to one of his twin daughters. He also blew a kiss to his mother.

Jailed in Brooklyn since his arrest last September, he could get at least 15 years and up to life in prison if convicted.

Cassie testifies about violence and abuse

Cassie, 38, told the jury Tuesday that her relationship with Combs ran the gamut from good times to arguments and physical altercations. They met in 2005 when she was 19 and he was 37. He signed her to a 10-year contract with his Bad Boy Records label. Within a few years, they started dating, she testified.

Her 2006 single, “Me & U," reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop chart and was the signature song on her first studio album. She was working on a follow up, but Combs “chose what was next for me” and didn't release any others, she said.

“If they were violent arguments, it would usually result in some sort of physical abuse and dragging, just different things,” Cassie said, noting that the alleged abuse sometimes came after the smallest perceived slights.

She added that Combs “would mash me in the head, knock me over, drag me, kick me. Stomp me in the head if I was down,” leaving her with bruises and black eyes.

Cassie was emotional from the start, taking deep breaths and sometimes pausing as she spoke. She told jurors she was “sexually inexperienced” when she met Combs and that he introduced her to various sex acts before  asking her to engaged in her first “freak off” when she was barely 22.

She said she was “confused, nervous, but also loved him very much” and “wanted to make him happy.”

Over time, Cassie said she began feeling as if she could not say no to demands for “freak offs” because “there were blackmail materials to make me feel like if I didn’t do it, it would be held over my head in that way or these things would become public.” She said it was always in “the back of my mind that I’ll be hurt by him.”

“Sean is a really polarizing person, also really charming,” Cassie 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.”

Cassie felt she couldn’t refuse Combs’ demands

Cassie said her first “freak off” occurred in Combs’ Los Angeles home with a male stripper from Las Vegas. She told jurors she felt dirty and confused afterward, but also relieved that Combs was happy.

Still, she said she felt obligated to go along with future “freak offs."

“I just didn’t want to make him upset," she said. "I just didn’t want to make him angry and regret telling me about this experience that was so personal.”

Cassie began crying when asked if she liked any aspect of the “freak offs.” She said she enjoyed “time spent with him," would would try to speed up “freak off” sex acts with the male sex worker so she could spend alone time with Combs.

She said she used drugs at every “freak off” to numb herself during “emotionless sex with a stranger that I didn’t really want to have sex with.”

Elaborating on why she felt it was so difficult to refuse Combs’ demands, she reiterated her fears of violence and blackmail videos from “freak-offs” being disseminated on the internet.

Cassie said Combs ordered her to recruit male sex workers for “freak offs” and that he would pay them thousands of dollars to have sex with her. The encounters, fueled by ecstasy and other drugs, would go on for 36 or 48 hours, and she said the longest lasted four days. They took place in private, often in dark hotel rooms, unlike Combs' very public White Parties in the Hamptons that attracted A-list celebrities.

'Freak offs' became a 'job'

Soon, she said, she was doing “freak offs” weekly. They went on for a decade, with the final one in 2017 or 2018, she said. Each time, she said, she had to recuperate from lack of sleep, alcohol, drugs and “having sex with a stranger for days.”

She described the situation as: “‘Freak offs' became a job where there was no space to do anything else but to recover and just try to feel normal again.”

Cassie also said she remembered “feeling insane” when Combs told her he wanted to start recording videos of the “freak offs.”

“He explained it was for him for after,” Cassie testified. She said they’d sometimes watch the videos while having sex.

Cassie said she was apprehensive about being recorded and went on to delete videos that he recorded using her electronic devices. Other videos were on his devices, which could be accessed by his staff, she said.

She said Combs dictated every aspect of the encounters and that he’d get mad if they ended too soon. “It was his fantasy,” she said. “He was controlling the whole situation. He was directing it.”

Cassie said sometimes Combs would make her repeat sex acts with the escorts. On other occasions, she said, multiple escorts were involved.

“I was an object being heavily objectified by men in that scenario,” she testified.

During her opening statement, prosecutor Emily Johnson told the jury that Cassie was not the only woman Combs beat and sexually exploited.

Combs was among the most influential hip-hop producers and executives of the past three decades, working with artists including Notorious B.I.G., Mary J. Blige and Usher. He also created the fashion clothing line Sean John and produced the reality show “Making the Band."

Hotel video is a key piece of evidence

A surveillance video made public last year showed Combs beating her at a Los Angeles hotel in 2016. CNN aired the video last year, leading . The video, which was played for jurors Monday, shows Combs wearing only a white towel, punching, kicking and dragging Cassie in a hotel hallway.

As the video of Cassie being dragged and kicked at the elevator bank was shown in court at the end of the day, several jurors looked up from the video on the monitors in front of them and settled their eyes on Cassie. She did not seem emotional as the video was shown, but it came at the end of the day, after lengthy testimony with graphic descriptions of sex acts she says she carried out to please Combs.

Israel Florez, a former security officer at the hotel, testified Monday that he came across Combs while responding to a call about a woman in distress, and found Combs sitting in a chair with “a devilish stare.” Florez said he refused when Combs offered him a stack of money and said “Don't tell nobody."

Earlier Tuesday, the trial resumed with Combs' lawyer questioning Daniel Phillip, a male stripper who says he was paid to have sex with Cassie while Combs watched. Phillip testified on Monday that he stopped seeing the couple after Combs assaulted Cassie.

In opening statements Monday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Johnson said Combs sexually exploited and beat other women, including a woman identified only as Jane, who Combs is accused of attacking after she confronted him about the “freak-offs.”

Media organizations, including The Associated Press, had asked the judge to let at least three pool reporters view explicit recordings that will be shown to the jury on Wednesday. But Judge Arun Subramanian “provisionally” denied the request, giving attorneys Tuesday night to make any additional submissions before he rules on the subject Wednesday morning.

If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline by calling 1-800-799-SAFE (7233), visiting  or texting LOVEIS to 22522.

Resources for victims of sexual assault are available through the National Sexual Violence Resources Center and the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 800-656-4673.