NEW YORK (Court TV) — Sean “Diddy” Combs’ former personal assistant returned to the stand Friday to further detail the alleged abuse she said she suffered while working for Combs for eight years.
Testifying under the pseudonym “Mia” on Thursday and Friday, the witness claimed Combs sexually assaulted her multiple times and was forced to work days without sleep, having to be on call nearly 24 hours a day and not being able to leave work without permission.
This government exhibit from Sean Diddy Combs’ federal sex trafficking trial shows his Los Angeles home. (U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York via Court TV)
Her responsibilities required her to stay within earshot of Combs, which often meant working from his home. She said Combs prohibited her from locking her bedroom door, because it was his home.
Alleged sexual assaults
Referring to him as “Puff,” Mia said the first alleged assault occurred on the day he was celebrating his 40th birthday at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. Combs had rented the penthouse suite and a room downstairs for the party. She said he asked her to meet him in the suite’s kitchen, where he told her what a good job she was doing.
Mia testified she had only been on the job for a few months and was seeking answers from another assistant to get her questions answered. She said Combs told her she didn’t have to do that and the two would be working closely together. After two shots of vodka, she said she felt wobbly. She described Combs leaning in, kissing her and putting his hand up her dress. Her next memory is “coming to” in a chair. She recalled she still had her clothes on, and she convinced herself that it was an “accident” and it would never happen again.
Mia testified that Combs sexually assaulted her a second time in his bedroom closet at his Los Angeles home. She said she was helping him pack for a trip when Combs came into the closet, grabbed her head and forced her to perform oral sex on him.
Describing the third alleged assault, Mia said one night she woke up to find him on top of her in his Los Angeles home. She testified he used one hand to undo his pants and then forced his penis “inside of her.” Mia said she froze, didn’t say no and didn’t tell anyone about the assaults.
She said he threatened to tell Cassie Ventura, her friend, that she seduced him. Mia said she feared she would lose her job. She thought of Combs as a “King” with a lot of power and felt bound by the confidentiality agreement she signed to keep it all secret.
Alleged physical assaults
Mia also detailed several incidents of alleged physical abuse that left her bruised, humiliated and degraded. She said on one occasion, when she went to the bedroom, in an attempt to change her tampon after blood trickled down her leg instead of promptly following his order to pick up food, he threw a bowl of spaghetti at her.
Mia also described having a computer thrown at her when the WiFi wasn’t working and detailed another incident in which he allegedly smashed a door against her arm when she was trying to retrieve her phone. She also described having an ice bucket emptied on her while she was asleep in a hammock.
Mia also testified that she witnessed acts of violence that Combs inflicted on Cassie. She recalled one time when he allegedly slammed Cassie’s head into a bed frame, causing blood to gush from the wound. An account that aligned with testimony from celebrity stylist Deonte Nash.
Mia also testified about having to prepare rooms for “freak-offs” and cleaning up afterwards before hotel housekeepers accessed the rooms. She described seeing baby oil and candle wax all over the room and on the walls, broken glass and blood, which Combs said was menstrual blood.
On Friday, Mia testified she left his employment after his CFO told her that Combs was resolving Revolt TV, Mia’s pet project and dream job developing film and TV projects.
Years without contact
After years of having no contact with Combs, Mia said she received a text in November 2023 from D-Roc, who served as his chief of security while she was employed by Combs. The contact occurred days after Cassie filed a lawsuit against Combs.
The text said that “Her boy Puff missed her,” and D-Roc wanted to talk to her. Mia said after catching up, D-Roc broached the subject of Cassie and how she and Combs fought like a normal couple. It struck Mia as odd, since D-Roc witnessed a lot of the violence in the relationship.
Mia realized that D-Roc was reaching out to ensure that she did not present a threat to Combs. In a subsequent text, D-Roc wrote that he wanted to send “his sister a gift,” which she understood to mean a bribe to encourage her to say something publicly supportive of Combs.
Soon after, Mia said she received a call from Combs himself. She testified she was so triggered by his call that she threw her phone as far as she could and ran out of the home. She avoided responding to emails from D-Roc and two messages from Combs himself that came in February 2024. In the messages, Combs asked to speak to her and told her in one message he “wanted to hear her voice” and ended it with “love.”
“I knew they were just a front,” Mia testified. She settled with Combs after she left Bad Boy Entertainment and received $250K of a $400K settlement that was meant to cover overtime and bonuses that had not been paid. Her lawyers had initially demanded $10 million from Combs.
She testified she has been so traumatized by Combs’ treatment of her that she can no longer work. She testified that when she tried to find other work, she ended up having to leave because she was overwhelmed by fear and overreacted to triggers like her name being yelled from across a room or questions about her whereabouts. Mia said she has no pending lawsuits against Combs.
Cross-examined by defense attorney Brian Steel
Defense attorney Brian Steel referenced multiple social media posts made by Mia referring to Combs in endearing terms. Among them was a picture of Mia dressed in a hospital gown, appearing to give birth, with Combs dressed in scrubs delivering the baby. “Shout out to my mentor,” she wrote in November 2013, referring to Combs. “Thank you for always letting me give birth to my dreams.”
“Here, you have posted on your personal account your rapist delivering the baby,” Steel said.
In multiple posts on her own social media account, Mia gives Combs props for inspiring her every day. In response to Steel’s contention that she did not fear Combs to the extent that she claimed, she said the “highs were highs, the lows lows”; she spent her time making sure he was happy, because that’s when she felt safe.
Mia was also questioned about a scrapbook she made for Combs’ 45th birthday that consisted of articles featuring Combs. The defense suggested the gift for Combs was thoughtfully and painstakingly compiled, not a gift one would share with one’s alleged abuser on the anniversary of a sexual assault. Mia testified that it was hard to gift someone as wealthy and famous as Combs; she came up with the scrapbook by reaching out to the company’s archives to get articles and photos scanned. She said her nature as a people pleaser, peacemaker, and rule follower caused her to bury the memories rather than dwell on them.
Steel displayed a text exchange between Mia and Combs’ executive assistant on the day Mia was severed from the company. “I’m going to kill myself. My life is over,” Mia wrote.
Steel suggested that if Combs was such a terrible abuser, then being let go from his employment should have been welcome news for her. Mia testified she feels that way now, but at the time, her job meant everything to her, and it was all that she knew. Her family was the people that she worked with, and being severed from her world was devastating.
Mia returns to the witness stand on Monday for more cross-examination and redirect.
