NOTE: The following article contains disturbing details and video footage. Please read at your own discretion.
Singer Cassie Ventura has commented on the release of a security camera video that showed her being attacked by ex-boyfriend Sean “Diddy” Combs in a hotel in 2016.
The video, obtained by CNN and released Friday, saw Combs launch a brutal physical assault on Ventura in which he grabbed her by the back of the neck and threw her to the floor, before kicking her twice while she lay on the ground.
“Domestic violence is THE issue,” Ventura, 37, wrote in a statement posted to Instagram on Thursday. “It broke me down to someone I never thought I would become.”
The recorded incident from March 5, 2016, was included in a since-settled rape and sex trafficking lawsuit filed by Ventura against Combs, 54. At the time of the settlement, Combs’ lawyers were adamant the undisclosed agreement was not an admission of guilt.
After the video was released publicly, Combs uploaded an apology to social media saying he was “truly sorry,” and that his actions were “inexcusable.”
In her statement, Ventura thanked her family, friends and members of the general public for their support and well wishes.
“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 wrote.
“With a lot of hard work, I am better today, but I will always be recovering from my past,” she continued. “Thank you to everyone that has taken the time to take this matter seriously. My only ask is that EVERYONE open your heart to believing victims the first time.”
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“It takes a lot of heart to tell the truth out of a situation that you were powerless in,” she wrote. “I offer my hand to those that are still living in fear.”
Ventura encouraged others to “reach out to people” and help carry the weight of domestic abuse.
When Ventura filed her lawsuit against Combs in November 2023, she alleged she’d faced severe abuse for over a decade.
“After years in silence and darkness, I am finally ready to tell my story, and to speak up on behalf of myself and for the benefit of other women who face violence and abuse in their relationships,” she said in a statement. “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.”
Before his apology, Combs denied all allegations of misconduct and illegal behaviour, and had vowed to clear his name.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said they cannot charge Combs over the hotel video because the 2016 incident is “beyond the timeline where a crime of assault can be prosecuted.”
Combs has been in legal trouble for months now and has been named in seven different civil lawsuits alleging sexual assault and other mistreatments. The latest lawsuit came Tuesday and saw a model accuse Combs of drugging and sexually assaulting her at his New York City recording studio in 2003. (One of the seven suits named Combs as a defendant but brought allegations of sexual assault against his son, Christian “King” Combs.)
In March, Combs’ Los Angeles home was raided by Homeland Security agents as part of a federal investigation for sex trafficking. He has not been formally charged with any crimes.
— With files from Global News’ Michelle Butterfield
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If you or someone you know is experiencing abuse or is involved in an abusive situation, please visit the Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime for help. They are also reachable toll-free at 1-877-232-2610.
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