How Cassie Ventura Is Moving Forward After Sean "Diddy" Combs Abuse

Yahoo

5 days ago

Originally appeared on E! Online
Another new chapter has begun for Cassie Ventura.
Two weeks away from giving birth to her third child with husband Alex Fine, the pregnant singer took the stand May 13 and proceeded to testify for four straight days in the trial of her ex-boyfriend Sean "Diddy" Combs, who has pleaded not guilty to charges of sex trafficking, transportation to engage in prostitution and racketeering conspiracy.
Watching his wife on the stand, Fine said in a May 16 statement, "I have felt tremendous pride and overwhelming love for Cass. I have felt profound anger that she has been subjected to sitting in front of a person who tried to break her."
The trial is expected to last for at least another five or six weeks, and Combs, who's been jailed without bail since his arrest last September, is facing a possible life sentence if convicted of racketeering conspiracy.
But Cassie is now free to focus on her infant son, who was born in New York.
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Before heading to New York to testify against Combs, the 38-year-old had been busy "Mastering Peace," as she put it in an Instagram caption when she shared a few glowing bathroom mirror selfies last month.
And maintaining her personal equilibrium became more important than ever as the trial approached.
The lawsuit she filed against her ex in November 2023 accusing him of sexual assault and other abuses over the course of their decade-long relationship was the first legal domino to fall in what quickly turned into a flood of civil litigation and eventual criminal charges targeting the Bad Boy Entertainment mogul.
The details in her complaint—many of which she recounted in her testimony—aligned with what Combs was accused of doing to the person identified as "Victim-1" in a September 2024 federal criminal indictment.
While a then-unspecified settlement was announced in Cassie's lawsuit on Nov. 17, 2023, the day after it was filed—"I have decided to resolve this matter amicably on terms that I have some level of control," she told NBC News—her harrowing allegations of rape, beatings and being forced to engage in sex acts with male escorts was followed by dozens of civil complaints from other Combs accusers.
In response to questions about the timing of her legal move, coming years after she cut ties with Combs personally and professionally, Cassie told the New York Times, "With the expiration of New York's Adult Survivors Act fast approaching, it became clear that this was an opportunity to speak up about the trauma I have experienced and that I will be recovering from for the rest of my life."
Combs has categorically denied wrongdoing in both his criminal and civil cases, as well as maintained that all of the sexual activity he engaged in was consensual. His attorney Ben Brafman said in 2023 that Cassie's lawsuit was "riddled with baseless and outrageous lies."
But Combs admitted to "inexcusable" behavior in May 2024 after CNN published a disturbing clip of hotel security footage from 2016 that appeared to show him shoving and kicking Cassie in a hallway. Her lawsuit detailed an alleged incident that appeared to come to life in this video.
'I take full responsibility for my actions in that video," Combs said in a subsequent video statement. "I was disgusted then when I did it. I'm disgusted now."
In her first comment after the release of the hotel video, Cassie thanked the family, friends and complete strangers who had been supporting her.
"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 said in a statement posted to Instagram May 23, 2024. "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."
The tape was at the center of one of the most contentious pretrial battles leading up to the start of jury selection May 5, with the defense unsuccessfully trying to get it excluded from evidence.
Combs' lawyers had alleged in a November 2024 motion that CNN "altered, manipulated, sped-up, and edited" the tape, and therefore it did not depict "an accurate version" of events. CNN denied manipulating the video in any way.
The footage has been viewed multiple times in court since prosecutors began presenting their case, Judge Arun Subramanian having ruled April 25 it was a "fair and accurate" depiction of what occurred between the defendant and Cassie.
Meanwhile, Cassie remains on her healing journey.
The tape was at the center of one of the most contentious pretrial battles leading up to the start of jury selection May 5, with the defense unsuccessfully trying to get it excluded from evidence.
Combs' lawyers had alleged in a November 2024 motion that CNN "altered, manipulated, sped-up, and edited" the tape, and therefore it did not depict "an accurate version" of events. CNN denied manipulating the video in any way.
The footage has been viewed multiple times in court since prosecutors began presenting their case, Judge Arun Subramanian having ruled April 25 it was a "fair and accurate" depiction of what occurred between the defendant and Cassie.
Meanwhile, Cassie remains on her healing journey.
After marking Father's Day last year on Instagram (where she goes by Casandra Fine), the mom of daughters Frankie, 5, Sunny, 3, took a long break from social media before revealing in February that she was pregnant, purposely punctuating the post with a blue heart.
For Alex's 32nd birthday in March, she posted about her model-actor spouse of five years, "There aren't words to describe how grateful I am that I get to do this life with you! The laughter and pure joy that I get to experience with you is beyond any of my dreams and manifestations. You've taken care of me and my heart like no other, you're hands down the best girl dad and I'm SO excited to see you now become a father to OUR SON!"
Before the trial began, Cassie had been slowly easing back into the public eye, accompanying Alex to the respective March 27 and March 31 premieres of MobLand in London and New York.
It was no secret that she and Combs, who signed her to his Bad Boy Records label in 2006, had a tumultuous relationship, and after they broke up for good in 2018 Cassie referenced how stifling their partnership had been professionally and creatively.
"More than anything, I would say that my creative process has changed since working with a new team," she told L'Officiel in 2019. "I feel supported so I make decisions based on what's best for me. I used to spend the most time overthinking the smallest things and always worrying about how people felt that I neglected how I really felt and what would make me happy. I wasn't creating from the heart. I'm still making sure that things are well thought out, but I'm doing what makes sense for my life. I'm just a woman coming into my own learning to trust myself. It's empowering."
Pregnant with her first child at the time, Cassie said she was hoping to be the type of mom who showed her daughter "that she can be whomever she wants to be" and knew she had "all of the love and support in the world."
She added, "I hope to make her understand the bigger picture in life and that you don't have to solely be one thing in this world. I want her to know that she can choose. My music is just part of a legacy that I wish to leave behind, for her and other women to be inspired by."
She has yet to release another album since her 2006 self-titled debut, but has recorded her own songs—including 2019's "Excuses" and "Don't Let Go"—and collaborated on other artists' tunes, such as Solange's "Way to the Show" and Black Coffee's "Time." She has also continued to act and model, including for SKIMS in 2022.
"I was honestly just so excited to be asked to be a part of [it], it barely crossed my mind," Cassie told Page Six of saying yes to the skin-baring campaign. "I've also come to a place of loving my body for all that it's done for me and my family and embracing it for what it is.'
As for the prospect of returning to the studio, "I'm currently working on finding what's next for me," she told DScene Magazine toward the end of 2022. "Spending time with music I've never heard before and finding voices and sounds that move me."
Career-wise, she explained, "My plans are to continue to create and to not think and just go. Music, acting, beauty and skin care to come. I am obsessed with music and what it does to and for people. I am so blessed that I get to meet new people daily that were moved by my music. I want to deliver things to the world that make people happy.
But she acknowledged that becoming a mom had "changed everything in the greatest way."
"It humbled me, it made me selfless, it made me take care of myself even better," Cassie said. "I was always so worried that I didn't heal enough before they came into the world, but they are the healing. I'm grateful for my journey, but nothing compares to being Frankie and Sunny's Mama."
See more of Cassie and Alex Fine's sweet family world behind the scenes:
Birthday BabesSafe TravelsSweetheartsA Day at the RacesProud PapaDaddy-Daughter SelfiesMake a wish!Say cheese!Surf BabiesFamily Vacation(Originally published May 12, 2025, at 2 a.m. PT)
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