Danity Kane alums Aubrey O'Day, D. Woods reunited to talk Diddy. Here's what went down.
Singers Aubrey O'Day and D. Woods, who comprised Sean "Diddy" Combs' former girl group, reunited for O'Day's podcast "Aubrey O'Day, Covering the Diddy Trial," to reflect on their time working with the embattled hip-hop mogul. Combs, 55, has been on trial since May following his September 2024 arrest on charges of sex trafficking, racketeering, and transportation to engage in prostitution.
"It's really triggering. It's really stomach-turning," said Woods, who has not been following coverage of the trial for "mental health and spiritual protection's sake." "Parents and loved ones may even feel a sense of guilt because (at) the time, nobody knew what we were really dealing with and what atmosphere we were really in. I think what people wanted was for us to take advantage of this opportunity" to work with Combs.
Danity Kane, a pop-R&B outfit that featured O'Day and Woods alongside Dawn Richard, Shannon Bex and Aundrea Fimbres, was formed on Combs' reality competition series "Making the Band" in 2005. The group released two studio albums, 2006's "Danity Kane" and 2008's "Welcome to the Dollhouse," and scored a pair of top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 before disbanding in 2009 (O'Day, Richard, Bex, and Fimbres reunited for a short-lived revival in 2013).
Since their time in the group, O'Day and Woods have spoken out about the alleged abuse they experienced working under the Bad Boy Records founder. Woods, appearing in the Investigation Discovery docuseries "The Fall of Diddy," accused Combs of verbal abuse and making sexual advances. O'Day, who was at one point rumored to be a witness in Combs' trial, likened her professional relationship with Combs to "childhood trauma" in a June 2024 interview with People magazine.
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Additionally, the women's bandmate Richard has taken legal action against Combs, suing him in September on 21 counts of sexual assault and battery, sex trafficking, gender discrimination, and copyright infringement. Richard also took the stand in Combs' trial and testified on the physical violence she reportedly witnessed from the Grammy-winning rapper.
"We didn't even get questions like, 'Are you safe?' That wasn't in anyone's conversation," O'Day told Woods. "All the girls that didn't make it that were always a little salty along the way whenever we'd run into them, they'd look at us like we're so lucky. And as time moved forward, we would ... get back together (and be) like, 'Girl, you're kind of lucky you didn't make it.'"
D. Woods felt 'like a piece of meat' working with Diddy
While reflecting on Richard's lawsuit and its claims of sexual abuse, Woods and O'Day spoke about Combs' alleged treatment of the girl group. Woods said while she doesn't recall being sexualized by the music mogul, she alleged Combs frequently belittled the women in his remarks.
"I didn't feel the sexual exchange, or maybe I just was oblivious to that because we were mad young," Woods said. "But what I did experience was the dehumanizing objectification and just really feeling like I'm just like a piece of meat, just feeling like I'm being tossed to and fro (with) no consideration of our humanity."
"We're all supposed to be on the same team," Woods added. But "he really treated us like we were — like he said to us several different times — 'You are not worth the (expletive) on the bottom of my shoes.'"
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Why D. Woods thinks Diddy fired her and Aubrey O'Day from Danity Kane
In a series of rapid-fire questions, O'Day asked Woods about her perspective on their termination from Danity Kane. The women were fired from the group during a meeting with Combs in the 2008 finale of "Making the Band 4."
"It was sexual harassment and retaliation. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it,' Woods said. When asked about her own firing, Woods said: "Because I was close to (O'Day), and it was retaliation."
Woods' remarks echo her account of O'Day and Combs' relationship in "The Fall of Diddy." The singer said O'Day confided in her that Combs often sent "inappropriate" photos to her, which allegedly included "overtly pornographic" material, and that during a 2008 run-in at New York Fashion Week, Combs reportedly told O'Day she was now "hot enough" to have sex with him.
Shortly after O'Day's alleged fashion week encounter, Combs called a mandatory meeting with Danity Kane, during which O'Day and Woods were fired. Woods said Combs retaliated against O'Day, in part, because she didn't "succumb to his advances."
"He wanted her to feel powerless and question her worth," Woods said. "I feel like that's part of the same reason why he probably got rid of me, too."
Contributing: Naledi Ushe and Jay Stahl, USA TODAY
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