Live updates: Cassie Ventura will face cross examination in Sean 'Diddy' Combs trial
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Cassie Ventura Faces Cross-Examination in Combs Trial
Above: Cassie Ventura and Sean "Diddy" Combs attend the Heavenly Bodies: Fashion & The Catholic Imagination Costume Institute Gala at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City on May 7, 2018. Image copyright: John Shearer/Getty Images for The Hollywood Reporter
The Spin
Narrative A
The defense is systematically demonstrating that Cassie was a willing participant in an alternative lifestyle, not a victim of trafficking. Text messages show her initiating and expressing enthusiasm for her encounters, while the relationship contained elements of mutual love and care. Their dynamic, while complicated by drug use and jealousy, was fundamentally consensual and part of a broader swinger lifestyle.
Narrative B
The prosecution maintains that Combs exploited his position of power to coerce and manipulate Cassie into degrading sexual acts through threats, violence, and blackmail. Despite surface-level consent shown in messages, Cassie participated out of fear and developed a drug addiction to cope with trauma, requiring IV fluids and therapy to recover from the abuse. The damage ran far deeper than the texts may suggest.