A-list girlfriends, lawsuits and seven children: the life and scandal of Diddy
Over the years, Sean Combs has worn various hats. First he was Puffy, then Puff Daddy, then P Diddy, then Diddy, then Swag, then Puff Daddy again, and most recently Love. He is a rapper, producer, label executive, actor, restaurateur and businessman. But his latest claim to fame tells a much darker story.
This week, properties believed to belong to Combs were raided by US law enforcement “in connection with a federal sex trafficking investigation,” according to Fox 11 news reports.
The news came months after the rapper was accused of multiple incidents of sexual assault, including more than 15 years’ worth of physical, sexual, and mental abuse towards his ex-girlfriend, American singer-songwriter Cassie.
Another one of Combs’ accusers alleges that he, along with two other men, raped her two decades ago, when she was 17. A male music producer has also accused Combs of sexually assaulting him and forcing him to sleep with sex workers. He denies all the allegations.
Combs, whose 1997 debut album No Way Out catapulted him onto the rap scene and eventually went on to be certified seven times platinum, is one of the biggest names in American hip-hop. He got his start at Uptown Records, where he helped develop R&B legends like Mary J Blige and Jodeci, before pivoting into creating music himself, then later becoming a record label executive and producer.
The accusations against Combs have rocked the hip-hop world. At the time, he was very much on the up – last year he appeared at the MTV Video Music Awards, where he was bestowed the Global Icon Award for his contribution to music., he was on Graham Norton’s sofa promoting his first solo album for 17 years, The Love Album: Off the Grid. “I am the happiest I’ve ever been in life, I laugh the most, I smile the most, I breathe the most,” he said in a 2021 interview with Vanity Fair.
