Who is Cassie Ventura? Diddy’s ex-girlfriend at the heart of sex trafficking trial

R&B star released a string of singles and an acclaimed debut album and appeared in several movies over the course of her rocky relationship with the hip-hop mogul

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Cassie Ventura, the former girlfriend of Sean “Diddy” Combs, is expected to testify at the hip-hop mogul’s trial in New York on Tuesday.

Combs, 55, is facing sex trafficking, transportation to engage in prostitution, and racketeering conspiracy charges after being arrested in September last year.

He has denied any accusations of wrongdoing and rejected a government plea deal offer.

Jury selection and opening statements have been completed at the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Courthouse in Manhattan, and the proceedings have already heard from its first two witnesses, a hotel security officer and a male escort, both of whom offered graphic testimony.

Cassie Ventura pictured in 2018, the same year that her relationship with Sean “Diddy” Combs ended (Leon Bennett/Getty)

Ventura, 38, featured prominently in Monday’s evidence, with LAPD Officer Israel Florez describing witnessing Combs attacking his former partner in the hallway of the InterContinental Hotel in Century City, California, in March 2016. The incident was captured on CCTV and was broadcast around the world after being obtained by CNN in May 2024.

Meanwhile, male escort Daniel Phillip recounted being summoned to have sex with her at the rapper’s direction.

A star in her own right since being discovered by Diddy in the early 2000s, Cassie Elizabeth Ventura was born in New London, Connecticut, on August 26, 1986. She began a modelling career at age 14 while she was still in high school.

Ambitious to become an R&B superstar like her idol Janet Jackson, she met music producer Ryan Leslie in 2004 and was signed to his label NextSelection Lifestyle Group before being picked up in turn by Diddy for his own Bad Boy Records.

Her debut single, “Me and U,” appeared in 2006, and it was quickly followed by her self-titled debut album and another single, “Long Way 2 Go.”

Cassie subsequently began a relationship with Diddy in 2007, which would run until 2018, and released a string of further singles with guest collaborators including Lil Wayne, Akon, and Combs himself, who appeared on “Must Be Love.”

Cassie Ventura and Sean Combs pictured together at the at the premiere of “Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop: A Bad Boy Story” in Beverly Hils, Califonria on June 21 2017 (Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP )

She also made her film debut at this time, appearing in Jon M Chu’s Step Up 2: The Streets (2008), contributing the song “Is It You?” to its soundtrack.

Ventura moved to Interscope Records in late 2009, but her long-touted follow-up album failed to materialize. However, she did release a further single, “King of Hearts” (2012), guested in music videos by other artists like Wiz Khalifa and Nicki Minaj, and released an acclaimed mixtape, RockaByeBaby (also 2012).

Later, she returned to the screen by co-starring with Terrence J in Billie Woodruff’s romantic comedy The Perfect Match (2016) and appeared in two episodes of the hit TV show Empire (2018).

After ending her relationship with Diddy, Ventura married personal trainer Alex Fine in September 2019, with whom she went on to have two daughters. The couple announced in February that they are currently expecting their third child.

She filed a lawsuit against Combs in November 2023, alleging that he had subjected her to a decade-long “cycle of abuse, violence and sex trafficking,” doing so under New York’s Adult Survivors Act.

Ventura claimed that the abuse had begun early on in her relationship with Diddy and included multiple instances of domestic violence and a rape when she attempted to leave him in 2018, all of which Combs has denied.

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