What to know about Cassie's life now, as she testifies against Sean 'Diddy' Combs in his criminal trial
Cassie is a singer and actor, best known for her top-10 hit single "Me & U."
She met Sean Combs, aka Diddy, in 2006 and signed to his label Bad Boy.
She filed a lawsuit against him in 2023 and is a key witness in his criminal sex-trafficking and racketeering trial.
Cassie burst onto the music scene in 2006 with an irresistible blend of pop and R&B.
Although the singer, whose legal name is Casandra Ventura, withdrew from the spotlight in the ensuing years, she's still beloved by fans of 2000s club jams.
In 2023, she filed a lawsuit against Sean "Diddy" Combs, alleging abuse throughout their relationship, including rape. An attorney for Combs denied the allegations to Business Insider. Cassie is now a key accuser in Combs' criminal sex-trafficking and racketeering trial, which began on Monday.
Here's everything to know about Cassie's career, her connection to Diddy, and what her life is like today.
Before launching her music career, Cassie had done some modeling for brands like Delia's.
In 2006, when she was 19 years old, she released her debut single "Me & U." It became her first hit, reaching No. 1 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and No. 3 on the Hot 100.
"Me & U" set the tone for her self-titled debut album, which was praised by critics for its "hypnotic groove" and "flippant playfulness." Rolling Stone later described the album as "the most brilliantly minimalist R&B album of its era."
In a positive review for Slant, Sal Cinquemani also said, "'Me & U' has single-handedly revived his ailing Bad Boy imprint," referring to Combs, then known as Diddy.
An archived feature from 2008 said that Combs heard "Me & U" in a club and felt inspired to help Cassie's career.
Combs teamed up with Ryan Leslie, who wrote and produced the song, to record Cassie's album.
In 2008, she announced her plans to release her sophomore album.
"I guess I grew up a lot but I'm still in essence the same person," Cassie, then 21, told Billboard. "Lots has changed in my life, stuff that has made me think about things differently. I'm more vulnerable and you can hear my vocals better this time around. There's real emotion and a much realer connection with my fans."
At the time, Combs praised Cassie's musical development, which he said was reflected in the album.
"We pulled out, we took our time, we developed her for like, a year-and-a-half," he told Billboard in a 2008 interview. "People are just going to see her there and be like, 'Wow, she's really cocooned into a butterfly.'"
However, the album was delayed several times. She didn't release new music until 2012, when she surprise-dropped a set of three mixtapes. She continued releasing singles sporadically in the years following.
Cassie played Sophie in the 2008 film "Step Up 2: The Streets," and has also appeared in "The Perfect Match" and on several episodes of "Empire."
Additionally, she appeared in the 2022 TV movie "Hip Hop Family Christmas Wedding."
Prior to her lawsuit, gossip news sites reported that Cassie and Combs maintained an on-again, off-again relationship. They reportedly started dating in 2007 and broke up in 2018.
Cassie's 2023 civil lawsuit accused Combs of serious allegations, painting the music mogul as an extremely violent and angry ex-partner.
It details several instances when the music mogul physically and mentally abused Cassie, as well as used intimidation tactics to keep her in the relationship. Combs quickly settled the suit shortly after it was filed.
Combs has been accused of sexual assault, rape, drugging, and other forms of violence in more than 50 civil lawsuits. He was arrested in September following a grand jury indictment and has denied the charges against him and all other allegations of sex abuse.
Combs' criminal sex-trafficking and racketeering trial began on Monday. Cassie, the prosecution's key witness in the case, took the stand on Tuesday and Wednesday to testify against Combs.
Following her split from Combs in 2018, Cassie began a relationship with Alex Fine, a professional bull rider, model, and personal trainer.
In June 2019, the singer revealed that she and Fine were expecting their first child together. The couple tied the knot in a small, surprise wedding in September of that year in Malibu, California. Their daughter, Frankie Stone, was born in early December.
Cassie and Fine welcomed their second child, a baby girl named Sunny Cinco, in March 2021.
In February 2025, Cassie revealed that she's pregnant with their third child, a son.
Libby Torres contributed to an earlier version of this story.
Read the original article on Business Insider
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Insider
an hour ago
- Business Insider
How each Diddy victim testified and how it could sway the trial's outcome
At his ongoing trial, Sean Combs has been accused of physical or sexual violence by seven women. His lawyers call them bitter opportunists. Prosecutors call them victims of Combs' criminal racket. Here's what each of these seven women told the jury, and why it matters legally. Over the past month, seven women have taken the stand at the Manhattan trial of rap mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs to tell chilling personal stories of physical and sexual violence. Two are Combs' ex-girlfriends, three are his former employees, and two were on the periphery of his multimillion-dollar media, entertainment, and lifestyle empire. Defense lawyers call them jealous, or bitter, or greedy. They say all seven women were with Combs by choice and are now out for what one attorney termed "a 'Me Too' money grab." Prosecutors call them victims and say their stories are the heart of the trial. Here's how the testimony of these seven accusers has turned the tables on Combs, building a case for federal racketeering and sex trafficking charges that could imprison him for anywhere from 15 years to life. Cassie Ventura, his first sex-trafficking accuser R&B singer Cassie Ventura was celebrating her 21st birthday in Las Vegas when Combs, who had signed her to his Bad Boy Records label the year before, surprised her with the kiss that started their relationship. She told the jury that hundreds of times over the next decade, from 2008 until 2018, Combs forced her to meet him at luxury hotels, to dress up in wigs, heels, and lingerie, to take handfuls of drugs, and to have sex with male escorts as Combs filmed and masturbated to the dayslong performances. "I want you to be glistening," she said Combs would tell her as he watched, ordering Ventura and sex workers with names like "Jewels" and "The Punisher" to apply ever more baby oil. These so-called "freak off" performances were first revealed in Ventura's quickly settled 2023 lawsuit. (Combs paid Ventura $20 million.) Ventura's allegations have since been corroborated at trial by freak off videos she'd saved over the years, by hotel records, and by testimony from eye-witnesses, including sex workers. One exotic dancer told jurors he witnessed Combs beating Ventura twice during freak offs in Manhattan between 2012 and 2014. "Bitch, when I tell you to come here, come now, not later," the dancer recalled Combs saying during one of more than a dozen beatings recounted at trial by witnesses and Ventura herself. Proof of sex trafficking Prosecutors say Ventura was sex-trafficked, meaning coerced into crossing state lines to participate in commercial sex acts (commercial because they involved paid sex workers). They say the violent, 2016 InterContinental hotel hallway video is unavoidable proof that she was sex-trafficked by force. They will likely argue that other evidence, including her unprofitable record deal and Combs' threats to publicize her freak-off tapes, proves she was sex-trafficked by means of fraud and coercion as well. They will likely also argue that from Ventura's vantage point at the center of the Combs empire, she also witnessed multiple crimes that support the racketeering charge. These include not just sex trafficking, but narcotics sales, forced labor (she was never compensated for her mixtape, a producer testified), extortion (she says Combs threatened to release freak off videos) and kidnapping (she says that when she was 22, he forced her to stay at an LA hotel until the bruises on her battered face healed enough to be hidden by makeup.) The defense has challenged Ventura's credibility by pointing to her lawsuit windfall, to the many times she left the Combs relationship only to freely return, and to the years of texts and emails in which she expresses her love of Combs and the freak offs. But Ventura described being trapped in a cycle of drug addiction, financial and emotional dependency, and fear. And yes, also love. "I would do absolutely anything for him," she told the jury, explaining why she agreed to the first freak off at age 22. "And it never stopped, our whole relationship." "Jane," his second sex-trafficking accuser "Jane," a recent ex-girlfriend of Combs, testified that on their first date at a Miami hotel in 2010, she fell "pretty head-over-heels for Sean." The date lasted five days, she told the jury. Over the next four months, she said, Combs slowly introduced her to his sexual preferences. He loved baby oil and drugs that kept them up day and night. He loved it when she dressed in lingerie and "high stripper heels." He'd play pornography and tell her to fantasize about the men on screen. "Do you like what you see there?" she said he'd ask her of these men. "Do you want that?" Then one night in 2021 at his Miami mansion, as the pornography rolled, he told her, "I can make this fantasy a reality if you'd like that." She loved him, she explained, and agreeing made him so happy. So she said yes. Jane said she soon realized she'd opened up "Pandora's box." Gone were the romantic trips and dinner dates of their first four months. Combs wanted freak offs — by now he was calling them "hotel nights" — nearly every time they saw each other over the next three years, up until his arrest in 2024. "It was just a door I was unable to shut," she told the jury. Jane must show force, fraud, or coercion Jane's testimony has so far described some of the elements of sex trafficking. She said she reluctantly crossed state lines, traveling from the East Coast to Miami to Los Angeles, to engage with paid sex workers. But her testimony, which continues next week, has yet to show that Combs sex trafficked her using force, fraud, or coercion, as the indictment requires. She instead described intensive psychological and financial pressure. She said she agreed to hotel nights because she loved him, and because he'd moved her to Los Angeles from the East Coast and was paying rent and other costs for her and her child. And when she told him she no longer wanted to do hotel nights, he would brush her off, or make what may or may not rise to the level of a coercive threat to withdraw that financial support. "If you want to break up, that's fine," she testified he'd tell her. "Do you need, like, what, three more months in the house? Because I'm not about to be paying for a woman's rent that I'm not even seeing." Prosecutors have said Combs defrauded Jane by promising romantic dinners and trips, only to renege and persuade her into another hotel night. They have also said Combs was brutally violent with Jane, though it's unclear how they plan to draw a link between that violence and sex trafficking by force. Meanwhile, the defense will likely use hundreds of affectionate and erotic texts between Jane and Combs to argue that she is a bitter ex who willingly suffered any demands and violence, and who continues to have her expenses paid by Combs in return. Asked late Friday who is currently paying her rent, Jane answered, "Sean is." Jane pushes back Prosecutors have also hinted that Jane is a witness to obstruction of justice, one of the underlying crimes they can use to prove the racketeering charge. "You will hear him try to manipulate Jane into saying she wanted freak offs," Emily Johnson, an assistant US attorney, told the jury during May 12 opening statements, describing a phone call recorded after Ventura's lawsuit was filed. "You will hear him interrupt Jane when she pushes back," Johnson said. Prosecutors have also said he made a point of paying for Jane's housing — even after his arrest. "Mia," his rape accuser "Mia," a former Combs employee, told the jury about a night 15 years ago, when she slept in the employee bedroom at his Los Angeles mansion. She woke up with Combs on top of her, she said, telling her, "Be quiet." "It was very quick, but it felt like forever," she said, her voice breaking into quiet, gasping sobs. Mia, like Jane, testified under a pseudonym to protect her privacy. She told the jury that Combs raped or sexually assaulted her at least four times throughout her eight years working as his personal assistant and as an executive for his short-lived movie company, Revolt Films. As with Jane and Cassie, Mia described in dozens of texts and social media posts struggling with her financial dependence on Combs and her fear of his violent nature, even as she spoke warmly of him. Mia supported the Ventura sex-trafficking claim. She said she saw Combs throw Ventura to the ground and "crack her head open." But Mia was not herself sex-trafficked, according to prosecutors — she is instead a racketeering witness. Forced labor, bribery, obstruction of justice Mia's testimony may be used to support an underlying racketeering crime of forced labor. She told the jury that Combs made her work as many as five days in a row with little or no sleep. Combs was a volatile boss who stole her phone and passport during arguments that turned violent, she said. Her testimony may also support an underlying crime of bribery and obstruction of justice. Mia told the jury that Combs' bodyguard, Damion "D-Roc" Butler, called and texted her repeatedly in the weeks after Ventura's lawsuit, spinning the "Puff and Cass" relationship as normal, and offering her "a gift." Capricorn Clark, his kidnapping accuser In her testimony, Capricorn Clark, Combs' former personal assistant and marketing exec, supported the Ventura sex-trafficking charge, describing Ventura as docile, trapped, and frequently subjected to beatings. During one beating, Clark said, Combs stopped briefly to warn her, "If I jumped in he was going to fuck me up, too." Kid Cudi, kidnapping, and extortion Clark is primarily a racketeering witness. Her testimony supports the underlying crimes of kidnapping and extortion. Clark said Combs was so enraged by Ventura's brief 2011 romance with rival rapper Kid Cudi that he forced Clark at gunpoint to ride with him and a bodyguard to Cudi's nearby house in Hollywood Hills. "He just said get dressed, we're going to go kill this —" and here he used the N-word. Cudi — whose given name is Scott Mescudi — told the jury that he arrived home to find his dog locked in the bathroom and a table full of Christmas presents unwrapped and rifled through. Clark also corroborated trial testimony by Ventura and her mom, Regina Ventura, concerning what prosecutors call a $20,000 extortion threat. The mom said she wired Combs the money after he threatened to release explicit sex tapes of her daughter. Dawn Richard, death-threat witness Former Danity Kane singer Dawn Richard testified to a brutal 2009 beating at Combs' rented Los Angeles mansion that supports both the Ventura sex-trafficking-by-force allegation and racketeering. Combs punched, kicked, and dragged Ventura during a fight over her not cooking him breakfast quickly enough, both Ventura and Richard told the jury. The next day, Combs called Ventura and Richard into his studio and locked the door. Inside, he tried to explain the incident, gave them some flowers, and what Richard said she considered to be a death threat. "He said that what we saw was passion," Richard testified. He told them, "he was trying to take us to the top, and that, where he comes from, people go missing," if they talk to the police, she said. "And then he gave us flowers." Prosecutors may call what happened next inside the studio extortion, witness tampering, and obstruction of justice, all underlying racketeering crimes. Kerry Morgan In her testimony, Kerry Morgan supported the Ventura sex-trafficking charge, describing two times she saw Combs beat Ventura, whom she called her best friend from their teenage modeling years. Once was when Ventura took too long in the bathroom during a 2013 Jamaica vacation. Morgan said Combs dragged a screaming Ventura outside by the hair and flung her down onto some paving bricks. For about 30 seconds, "I thought she was knocked out," Morgan testified. Morgan also supported the racketeering count by describing a $30,000 hush-money payment she received from Combs. In return for the money, Morgan said, she signed a non-disclosure agreement that barred her from talking about a 2018 assault she said happened earlier that year in Ventura's Hollywood Hills house. Combs was desperate to learn "who Cassie was cheating on him with," she testified. Combs let himself into Ventura's apartment, she said. "He came up behind me, and choked me when I got away, he boomeranged a wooden hanger at my head," giving her a concussion, Morgan said. Bryana "Bana" Bongolan, who says Combs dangled her over a balcony Bryana "Bana" Bongolan, a marketing director, told jurors she and Ventura are longtime friends. They shared a lot of drugs over the years, she said — including cocaine, ketamine, and GHB. They also shared trauma, she told the jury. She once saw Combs throw a knife at Ventura, who she said threw it back. "I'm the devil and I could kill you," she testified Combs told her in 2016, seemingly at random, when she and Ventura were with him on a Malibu beach. Combs, she said, gave no explanation for the threat. A violent, criminal racket Bongolan's most important testimony — feeding the prosecution's argument that Combs stood at the head of a violent, criminal "racket" — described him picking her up and holding her over the railing of a 17th-story balcony in September 2016. "You know what the fuck you did!" she said Combs kept shouting as he hoisted her into the air. Asked if she knew what he meant, she testified, "I still have no idea." On cross-examination, defense attorney Nicole Westmoreland highlighted inconsistencies between what Bongolan has said in a $10 million lawsuit, in her interviews with prosecutors, and in her testimony. The defense lawyer also leaned into the defense contention that Combs' accusers have financial reasons to falsely implicate him. Westmoreland questioned Bongolan hard about her and Ventura's lawsuits against Combs. In one example, Bongolan's ongoing lawsuit accuses Combs of violent sexual assault, an allegation not made in her June 4 testimony — though Bongolan did tell jurors that Combs' hands cupped her breasts before he hoisted her up from under her arms.
Forbes
8 hours ago
- Forbes
Addison Rae Introduces Herself With Debut Album ‘Addison'
Addison Rae Getty Images for Coachella In just a few short years, Addison Rae has risen from budding TikTok star to pop music's newest 'it' girl. She made a splash on the Billboard Hot 100 last year with 'Diet Pepsi' and returned to the chart for her recent single 'Headphones On." That climb has culminated in Rae's self-titled debut album Addison, out now. Though she's only a few years into her career, Rae projects the confidence of an industry veteran on the album, as evidenced by most recent single 'Fame Is a Gun," proclaiming 'There's no mystery, I'm gonna make it, gonna go down in history / Don't ask too many questions, God gave me the permission / And when you shame me, it makes me want it more.' When reflecting on her journey and where she is now in a recent cover story with Elle, Rae explained that she's reached a place in her career where she's in control of what she does. 'I have the luxury now to say no to things I'm not interested in, or that don't feel like me or aren't reflective of who I am. It's still a job, at the end of the day. Everybody is trying to survive — I'm trying to survive and live here and do all these things that I love — but I definitely have become more intentional, because I do think saying no to things opens up a door for a much better yes,' she said. Still, she isn't resting on her laurels just as she's making her big debut in the pop world. 'What does that even mean, really, to be the pop girl? Let's see if the songs get more popular, then they can call me a pop girl," she mused to Variety. 'This is my shot. I've got to go big.'
New York Post
8 hours ago
- New York Post
Shaq makes one thing clear about ‘Inisde the NBA' joining ESPN next season
Shaquille O'Neal has made it clear that he is not going to change at his soon-to-be new network. During an appearance on the 'Rich Eisen Show' on Friday, O'Neal once again stood firm on the fact that he and co-host Charles Barkley will not change their personalities for ESPN. 'I don't have any concerns because I know one guy that you're never going to change, and I know another guy that's really close to him,' O'Neal said. 'The other two guys — listen, Ernie [Johnson] is a consummate professional and he can adapt to any situation. Advertisement 3 Shaquille O'Neal smiles before the game between the Indiana Pacers and the New York Knicks during Game 2 of the 2025 Eastern Conference Finals on May 23, 2025 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York. NBAE via Getty Images 'Ernie is the guy that really keeps us out of trouble and Kenny is professional, but Chuck is right there on the line and I'm right below Chuck. Chuck's not changing. I'm not changing.' O'Neal, 53, also pointed to 'The Pat McAfee Show' on the network as a model that 'Inside the NBA' could potentially follow next season. Advertisement 'I actually saw something yesterday where it said ESPN is going to give us the same no-look that they give Pat McAfee,' O'Neal added. 'So, listen, we're just going to go have fun, do what we do and talk about the game that we love and just try to make people laugh.' 3 Shaquille O'Neal, Ernie Johnson, Jalen Rose, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley talk before the game between the New York Knicks and the Indiana Pacers on May 31, 2025 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana. NBAE via Getty Images Both O'Neal and Barkley have insisted on multiple occasions that they plan to stay the same despite the network change, with the latter saying last month that he dares ESPN to fire him. Advertisement 'I'm not going to change my personality,' Barkley said during an episode of Outkick's 'Don't @ Me with Dan Dakich,' per Awful Announcing. 'Ain't nobody — they can't fire me. I make too much money to get fired. So, they can't fire me. First of all, if they fire me, they got to pay me for seven years, and I'm going to quit way before then. But if they want to fire me, I would love for them to do that. 3 Charles Barkley looks on before the game between the New York Knicks and the Indiana Pacers during Game 6 of the 2025 Eastern Conference Finals on May 31, 2025 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana. NBAE via Getty Images Advertisement 'The only decision we've been making is how long I'm going to work. … I'm not worried about getting fired. And nobody at ESPN is going to tell me what to say or do. Period.' 'Inside the NBA,' which has aired on TNT since 1989, will make the switch over to ESPN next season. Turner is still set to produce the show by licensing it to ESPN.
