Cassie Ventura returned to the witness stand Thursday for a third consecutive day in the federal sex trafficking and racketeering trial of Sean "Diddy" Combs, where jurors were presented with text messages, explicit testimony, and surveillance footage detailing her allegations of years of coercion, sexual abuse, and emotional neglect by the music mogul.
Testifying under her full name, Casandra Ventura, the singer described emotional frustration stemming from Combs' refusal to integrate her into his family life despite their 11-year relationship. A text message exchange from 2013 was read aloud, in which Ventura referenced Bruce Willis and Eddie Murphy as examples of celebrities who managed healthier blended families.
"As much as you think you're Bruce Willis, you aren't. He's married, and before he was married, the family as a whole went on trips together or just him and his woman," Ventura wrote. She added, "Eddie Murphy and Paige took his kids away on their own," alluding to Murphy's long-term partner, now wife, Paige Butcher. Ventura concluded, "I don't think that you sympathize with my feelings. I understand you feeling like you need to protect your children but after a while...it's like for what?"
Ventura said that she felt excluded from Combs' life outside of his sexual demands. "It could be a little heartbreaking," she testified during cross-examination. Her messages from that time expressed growing resentment and described feeling like "a side piece."
The court was also shown text messages where Ventura wrote she enjoyed the "freak offs," referring to Combs' term for group sex parties, though she later said in court, "Loving FOs were just words at that point." Defense attorneys argued the texts showed her consent; Ventura countered that the messages lacked full context.
Surveillance footage from a Los Angeles hotel in 2016 was played for jurors, showing Combs attacking Ventura during a confrontation. "I got hit by Sean and had a black eye and at that point all I could think about was getting out of there safely," she testified. "Sean grabbed me by the back of my neck and threw me to the ground."
Jurors also viewed five still images from explicit "freak off" sessions central to the prosecution's case. Although the videos themselves were presented in court, Judge Arun Subramanian ruled Wednesday that the material would remain sealed from the public and media to prevent further trauma to the alleged victims. "Showing the clips or screenshots of them to anyone but the jury would retraumatize Cassie and the other victim," Subramanian said.
Combs' legal team described the videos as "adult pornography" and warned of privacy violations. Ventura's counsel cautioned that releasing them could deter future sexual abuse survivors from coming forward.
In testimony Thursday, Ventura said she was given drugs and alcohol to numb herself before the sessions. "The drugs became a thing over time. Became the main event for us," she said. She described being physically restrained, urinated on by male escorts, and left emotionally shattered. "It was disgusting, it was too much, overwhelming," she said. "I was laid on the floor in a position I couldn't easily get out of."
She also detailed an emotional email sent to Combs: "I don't need your money, I need some attention. That's not being in a relationship with someone that you love and are in love with."
