The anonymous former assistant to Sean “Diddy” Combs finished her third and final day on the witness stand in the mogul’s racketeering and sex trafficking trial on Monday by reiterating her core allegations about her former boss’ abuse, while strongly denying claims that she was interested in the mogul’s money.
Combs attorney Brian Steel‘s cross-examination of the woman, who is testifying under the name “Mia,” began on Friday and took almost the entire day on Monday before wrapping up.
In a similar approach to Friday, where he spent a lot of the morning sharing Mia’s social media posts praising Combs, Steel took time on Monday to show to the jury a number of text messages Mia sent to Diddy after her employment ended in early 2017.
There were Christmas and New Year’s Eve wishes, messages sending love in the months following the unexpected death of Diddy’s longtime partner Kim Porter in 2018 (and again on her birthday), further condolences following the 2020 death of Combs’ mentor Andre Harrell, and more.
As he did on Friday, Steel contrasted the often-loving tenor of these messages with Mia’s stories of repeated alleged sexual and physical assaults, emotional abuse, and a work schedule that could keep her awake for days on end.
He also questioned why Mia didn’t have any contemporaneous records of the alleged assaults — photos of injures, or notes she had written to herself.
“Didn’t you have times where you could have written notes about how he sexually assaulted you?” Steel asked.
“I did not and I could not,” Mia replied.
Steel asked repeatedly throughout the day about when and why Mia retained a lawyer. Relatedly, he questioned whether she was planning on suing Combs in civil court, which she denied.
At one point during a back-and-forth over this issue, Steel grew particularly heated and direct.
“Isn’t it true that you sought a lawyer because you wanted to sue Mr. Combs for money?” to which Mia responded, “No.”
Steel continued with a question that was immediately objected to by prosecutor Madison Smyser: “And that you joined the #MeToo money grab against Sean Combs — is that true?”
Most of Mia’s accusations about Combs’ abuse were made on Friday, but a surprising new one concerning vehicles entered the discussion on Monday. Steel was inquiring about what Mia and Combs’ ex (and another alleged victim in this case) Cassie Ventura, who were and remain close, discussed (or didn’t discuss) privately about Combs’ alleged abusive behavior.
Mia mentioned why she would have been afraid to have even a private talk about that topic.
“[Combs] has stolen my phone many times,” she said. “He’s stolen Cassie’s phone many times. He’s put tracking devices on her car. I’m not sure what he is capable of.”
In response to Steel’s questions, Mia provided a consistent rationale about why she hadn’t mentioned Diddy’s alleged repeated sexual assaults, and his other alleged abuses, until recently.
“I was completely entrenched in his world,” she said. “Now I’m surrounded by the support that I need, and I’ve seen other worlds that were not like that.”
If she disclosed the abuse, she explained at one point, “I wouldn’t be believed, I would be wiped out, I would be abused, fired, and somehow made out to look like I was a crazy person, making everything up.”
She repeatedly referred to having been “brainwashed” by Combs. At one point, Steel asked her to elaborate.
“Brainwashed meant I was in an environment where the highs were really high and the lows were really low, which created a huge confusion in me trusting my instincts,” she said. “I was punished whenever Puff would be violent and I would react, therefore, again, confusing me and making me believe I had done something wrong, and then I would try so hard to get back to that good space. And I’d work harder and be nicer, and nobody around batted an eye. He was still praised by everyone around him and the public.”
“I was always constantly seeking his approval,” she concluded. “He was my authority figure, the only authority figure.”
Steel at one point showed a 2013 video clip Mia made wishing Diddy a happy birthday, part of a longer video she had put together in which she solicited birthday greetings from the Bad Boy founder’s friends and family.
The video, the defense said, was important because Mia’s loud, outspoken performance on it might lead the jury to conclude that her demeanor on the stand (where she was often hesitant, soft-spoken, and nearly constantly looking downwards) was “an act.”
Mia ended her time on the witness stand by explaining why she was testifying, despite the fact that discussing the alleged sexual assaults as “the worst thing I’ve ever had to talk about in my life.”
She did it, she said, because if she failed to, “I can’t look my niece and my goddaughter in the eyes and ever advise them in the future if they happen to be in this situation.”
