NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� The R&B singer testified Wednesday that raped her when she ended their decade-long relationship, after he locked her in a life of physical abuse by threatening to release degrading sexual videos of her.
Addressing the Manhattan courtroom for a second day in Combs' federal , Cassie said Combs forced his way into her Los Angeles apartment and raped her on the living room floor after she said she was breaking up with him.
Cassie also said she didn't feel she could refuse Combs' demands for her to have 鈥渉undreds鈥� of encounters with male sex workers 鈥� which he for hours and even days 鈥� because he would make her 鈥渓ook like a slut" if he made the videos public.
鈥淚 feared for my career. I feared for my family. It鈥檚 just embarrassing. It鈥檚 horrible and disgusting. No one should do that to anyone," said Cassie, whose legal name is Casandra Ventura.
Prosecutors showed the jury five still images from the sex videos on Wednesday. Cassie said the images depicted her at various stages of the encounters One juror鈥檚 eyes widened. Another shook his head from side to side.
She sued Combs in 2023, accusing him of years of physical and sexual abuse. Within hours, the suit was settled for $20 million 鈥� a figure Cassie disclosed for the first time Wednesday 鈥� but dozens of similar legal claims followed from other women.
Prosecutors accuse Combs of as a powerful music executive to violently force Cassie and other women to take part in sexual encounters. He is charged with crimes including racketeering and sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion. Several other accusers are set to testify.
Combs denies all of the allegations. His attorneys acknowledge he could be violent, but say the sex he and others engaged in was consensual and that nothing he did amounted to a criminal enterprise.
Combs鈥� lawyers were expected to begin cross-examining Cassie on Thursday, when they will get the chance to challenge her credibility or poke holes in her account of what happened.
Combs, 55, has been jailed since September. He faces at least 15 years in prison if convicted. is expected to last about two months.
Cassie exposes the dark side of a celebrity relationship
Cassie鈥檚 testimony is exposing the dark underside of a relationship that, for years, played out publicly in pictures of the couple smiling on red carpets and celebrity events. She said she met Combs in 2005, when she was 19 and he was 37. Combs signed her to a 10-year contract with his Bad Boy Records label. Within a few years, they started dating, Cassie said.
They were photographed in 2016 attending the premiere of the film 鈥淭he Perfect Match,鈥� only two days after Combs beat and kicked Cassie at a Los Angeles hotel 鈥� an attack captured on security camera footage. After the footage was leaked last year, . Jurors were shown that footage as well as photos of the couple at the premier.
Cassie, now 38, calm and poised after an emotional first day of testimony, said she used makeup to cover bruises and wore sunglasses to hide a black eye for the premiere. She said she sneaked into a popcorn closet at the movie theater to switch dresses for an after-party so bruises on her legs wouldn鈥檛 be visible.
On another occasion in 2013, while she was packing to go to Drake鈥檚 music festival in Canada, Cassie said Combs scuffled with her friends and threw her into a bed frame. She sustained a 鈥減retty significant gash鈥� above her left eye. Combs鈥� security personnel brought her to a plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills to get the wound stitched up, she said.
Afterward, she said she texted Combs a photo of her injured face and wrote: 鈥淪o you can remember.鈥� Combs replied: 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 know when to stop. You pushed it too far. And continued to push. Sad.鈥�
The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly, as Cassie has.
Combs accused of a history of violence
Cassie testified about several other violent episodes. Early in their relationship in 2007, she said he repeatedly hit her and knocked her to the floor of a vehicle with a blow to her head. In 2011, when he learned she started dating rapper Kid Cudi, she said Combs lunged at her with a corkscrew and kicked her in the back.
After the 2011 attack, she said she lied to her mother at Christmas that it was the first time Combs hit her.
鈥淚 couldn鈥檛 hurt her like that,鈥� Cassie testified. 鈥淎nd it was terrifying. It鈥檚 not normal, constantly being bruised up by the person you love 鈥� who says they love you.鈥�
Cassie also testified that she saw Combs pull one of her friends back over the railing of a balcony in Los Angeles. She said she saw him hit a different friend of hers in the head with a hammer.
Cassie said she was experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder before ending her relationship with Combs in 2018, and was blacking out and sleepwalking.
Cassie says she had a breakdown in 2023
Cassie testified that her life reached a climatic moment in early 2023 when she had 鈥渉orrible flashbacks鈥� as she was shooting a music video. She said she went home after the video shoot and her two kids were asleep but her husband was there. Cassie said she remembered 鈥渢elling him you can do this without me. You don鈥檛 need me here anymore.鈥�
With that, Cassie said she couldn鈥檛 take the pain anymore and 鈥渢ried to walk out the front door into traffic and my husband would not let me.鈥� Weeks later, she was undergoing rehab and trauma therapy.
Asked why she鈥檚 testifying at Combs鈥� criminal trial, she said: 鈥淚 can鈥檛 carry this anymore. I can鈥檛 carry the shame, the guilt.鈥�
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Associated Press journalists Julie Walker in New York and Dave Collins in Hartford, Connecticut, contributed to this report.
Michael R. Sisak And Larry Neumeister, The Associated Press
