Casandra “Cassie” Ventura took the stand on Tuesday to testify against her ex-partner and former record label boss Sean “Diddy” Combs’ in New York federal court. The singer, 38, was among the first witnesses called in Combs’ sex trafficking trial after Monday’s testimonies.
Prosecutors first asked Ventura to describe her relationship with Combs. She said he “controlled a lot of my life.”
“There were violent arguments that would usually result in some sort of physical abuse,” she said in her testimony. “Dragging, different things of that nature.”
Ventura shared that she was vaguely familiar with who Combs was when they met in 2005, when she was 19, but “didn’t know too much about him personally.” She signed a 10-album deal under Combs’ Bad Boys Records and later began dating him.
The New York Times reported that at the beginning of their relationship, Ventura said, “I think I was just enamored by him. We were just having a good time.” She described the excitement of their relationship, which she said began during a trip to Miami. Ventura claimed it was there that Combs gave her a “blue dolphin” ecstasy pill, and they had sex on a boat.
