Diddy’s former assistant ‘Mia’ says mentor caused PTSD
Diddy’s ex-assistant, a woman going by the pseudonym “Mia,” returned to court and spoke out against her former boss.
This story contains graphic descriptions that some readers may find disturbing.
Sean “Diddy” Combs’ attorneys in his federal sex-crimes trial are pushing back against sweeping abuse allegations, cross-examining the Grammy-winning rapper’s former assistant, a woman going by the pseudonym “Mia.”
The anonymous witness spent days last week telling jurors about his alleged physical and sexual abuse. But Combs’ attorneys pressed her on social media posts she made about her former boss and warm text messages she sent him.
“I was still brainwashed,” Mia explained on the stand in Manhattan court on June 2, saying she was “constantly seeking” Combs’ approval.
Similar to other former employees of Combs, Mia has described a workplace dynamic in which Combs allegedly made repeated threats to maintain control. The ex-assistant, who worked for Combs from 2009-2017, also claims the Bad Boy Records founder sexually assaulted her on multiple occasions.
Combs, 55, was arrested in September 2024 and charged with sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution. He has pleaded not guilty.
Mia talked to Cassie around the time she sued Diddy
Mia said she spoke to Cassie Ventura Fine, Combs’ ex-girlfriend, around the time of her bombshell 2023 lawsuit, in which she accused Combs of sex trafficking and abuse. Mia never mentioned to Ventura Fine that Combs had allegedly also sexually assaulted her, she said.
“I was still deeply ashamed and wanted to die. I didn’t want to tell anybody,” she testified.
“Why did it take seven to eight months for you to tell the U.S. Attorney’s Office about Sean Combs supposedly sexually assaulting you?” Combs’ defense attorney Brian Steel asked.
It is not uncommon for sexual assault survivors to wait some time before revealing their experiences to loved ones or law enforcement.
Defense attorneys accuse Mia of ‘MeToo money grab’
As testimony continued, Steel pressed Mia on why there was no photographic or video evidence of Combs berating and assaulting her and Ventura Fine. “Mia, was that just made up by you?” he said, after the witness claimed she and Ventura Fine once escaped Combs while they were using paddleboards during a trip.
Steel continued to ask Mia why she never told family or friends about the assaults. She said she had to be in constant communication with Combs 24/7, and even when she was away “I was never out of his grip.”
“You joined the MeToo money grab against Mr. Combs, is that true?” Steel asked, asking whether she knew that Ventura Fine had received settlement money in her lawsuit against Combs, to which Mia replied yes.
Mia describes R. Kelly ‘nightmare’ in texts to Diddy
Jurors saw texts from 2019, in which Mia wrote to Combs: “I had a nightmare. I was trapped in an elevator with R. Kelly and you came to rescue me.” Kelly, a fellow hip-hop artist, is currently serving a 30-year prison sentence after being convicted of sex trafficking and racketeering in 2022.
Combs is currently facing both of the charges.
“Why are you reaching out to Mr. Combs, telling him this?” Steel asked Mia, pressing her on why – if Combs allegedly terrorized her – she would write to him in such a way.
“Puff used to be my protector,” she replied, adding that Combs, sometimes referred to as “Puff Daddy,” had recently lost longtime partner Kim Porter. “Kim had just passed away, and I felt horrible for him, she said. Porter died in 2018 from pneumonia.
Noting that the text came months after Porter’s death, Steel said: “It’s five months later, and you are having thoughts that he’s your savior, and you’re sending him all the love in the world?” She replied that she didn’t think five months was that long of a time frame, explaining that Combs would grieve Porter, with whom he shares four children, for a lifetime.
Mia says Diddy put tracking device on Cassie’s car
Mia testified that Combs had stolen both her and Ventura Fine’s devices on multiple occasions, and that he put tracking devices on Ventura Fine’s car. “I’m not sure what he’s capable of,” she said.
But Steel pressed Mia on an instance in which Ventura Fine had come to her saying that Combs was acting “jerky.” Mia responded by saying his “brain needed to be rewired,” comparing him to a child throwing tantrums who needs his mother.
“Why would you stick up for Mr. Combs?” Steel asked, and Mia denied wanting to defend her former boss. “One of the worst parts” was being put in the middle of Ventura Fine and Combs’ relationship, she said, which Cassie has alleged was fraught with physical and sexual abuse. “I wouldn’t lie to her about anything I wasn’t forced to,” she added.
Mia defends texting Combs about ‘good times’ together: ‘I was still brainwashed’
Steel questioned Mia about a friendly text message exchange with Combs from 2020, years after her employment with him ended.
At the time, Mia texted Combs that she had “so many funny” memories, as well as videos and notes on her phone depicting warm moments. Combs replied, “I love it. Glad you’re well,” adding, “I only remember the good times.” Mia wrote back, “Love you too, and the only things to remember are the good times, and those are the only ones I have.”
Steel asked Mia why she did not respond to Combs by saying, “Well, I remember the bad times.” Steel argued she should have told the rapper that he “should remember what you did to me,” in light of her violent allegations against him.
But Mia said on the stand, “No, I would never respond that way.” Steel shot back that this is “because it’s not true,” but Mia maintained that she has “never lied in this courtroom, and I will never lie in this courtroom.” She continued, “I was still brainwashed,” noting that she was “constantly seeking” Combs’ approval.
Mia also testified Combs “threatened to tell Cassie everything,” referring to Combs’ allegedly sexually assaulting her. The former assistant said the threats “made me feel like I had done something wrong. I can’t explain what that does to a person.”
Mia mourns Chadwick Boseman and other stars, recalls ‘hilarious’ moments with Jennifer Lopez, Leonardo DiCaprio in Diddy texts
In a May 14, 2020, text, Mia told Combs: “Puff, my heart is broken about Dre,” seemingly about the late Uptown Records founder Andre Harrell.
In a message from August 2020, Mia texted Combs, “Thinking of you with Chadwick Boseman,” following the actor’s death. Mia said on the stand that Combs was “auditioning for the role” of James Brown in the “Get On Up” biopic that Boseman ended up playing, and she said she texted Combs saying that she had his audition tape and would send it to him.
In other texts to Combs, Mia went on to describe some of their “magical, hilarious” and “hysterical” memories together: One was of a night in Paris when Mick Jagger apparently flirted with her; another was of a night when Jennifer Lopez wouldn’t stay out with them; yet another was of a high-stakes poker game between Combs and Leonardo DiCaprio.
In the text message she wrote that Combs said, while cursing: “That ‘Titanic’ (guy) doesn’t know (anything). He won $10,000, I won $650,000.”
MeToo Movement takes center stage
Mia told the court she believes she has a moral obligation to support and help people and to stand up for what’s right – part of the reason she’s speaking out now.
Pressing her on the rise of MeToo movement, when she was still in contact with Combs, Steel asked: “Why didn’t this moral obligation happen in 2017?”
“Because I was terrified and brainwashed,” she said, adding that was the same reason she did not speak up the following year. Mia said she didn’t feel comfortable enough speaking out until “I started witnessing him being held accountable for his actions.”
It wasn’t immediately clear what Mia was referring to, but Combs and Ventura Fine officially broke up that year after he allegedly sexually assaulted her.
Steel continued to ask Mia who forced her to write the friendly text messages previously shown to jurors, and she said no one forced her. “I was scared of him when he was scary,” she explained when questioned about why she continued to contact him.
As former assistant Mia’s testimony continued June 2, she alleged that in 2012 she witnessed a discussion between Combs and Ventura Fine escalate at the premiere of the Brad Pitt film “Killing Them Softly,” during the Cannes Film Festival in France.
She claimed she saw Combs grit his teeth while digging his nails into Ventura Fine’s arm, and eventually insist Ventura Fine leave, which she did.
Enrique Santos, others expected to testify in Diddy trial
As Combs’ trial stretches into another week, several new names will take the stand.
Among the expected witnesses are Enrique Santos, a radio personality, and Frank Piazza, whose connection to Combs remains unclear.
Two employees of the InterContinental Hotel, where video captured the music mogul assaulting Ventura Fine, are also expected to take the stand. Hotel security supervisor Eddie Garcia will testify under immunity, and hotel custodian Sylvia Okun is also expected to speak out.
During cross-examination on May 30, Steel showed Mia a number of old social media posts. One was a tribute for Combs’ 45th birthday, where she wrote, “Happy birthday, Puff Daddy. Thank you for being the good kind of crazy,” adding that she loved him with all her heart. Steel remarked that this was five years after Combs first allegedly sexually assaulted her.
“When the highs were high and the goods were good, you tried so hard to stay in that,” Mia said. Steel pressed her multiple times, saying, “Haven’t you said you’ve been sexually assaulted so many times that you can’t even remember?” Mia responded: “I don’t remember phrasing it that way.”
In more emotional testimony on May 30, Mia said she hired an employment lawyer to try to get a settlement from Combs after her work with the music mogul ended, requesting a payment of $10 million; ultimately, she only received $400,000, half of which was taken by lawyers.
The woman said she never disclosed her alleged sexual assaults in those transactions, even though she mentioned some of Combs’ violence. She told the court that she would have taken her assault allegations aimed at Combs to her grave.
While taking the stand on May 30, Mia said Combs emotionally abused her to the point that she now suffers from “complex severe PTSD.” Due to her post-traumatic stress disorder diagnosis, Mia said she can’t get or keep a job because she is triggered by the most minor things, like somebody asking where she is.
“I would have to leave (work) because I would be triggered by very normal situations with an overwhelming fear of being in trouble,” the witness told the court. She added that “all of those feelings of getting in trouble come flooding back.”
50 Cent is looking to give President Donald Trump his two cents about Combs.
In an Instagram post on May 30, the “In da Club” rapper said he’ll reach out to Trump after the president said he would “look at the facts” in Combs’ case, suggesting a pardon could be on the table.
50 Cent shared a clip of the president’s comments in his post and wrote that Combs “said some really bad things about Trump,” adding that he will “reach out so he knows how I feel about this guy.”
In a follow-up post, 50 Cent suggested Combs’ past comments about Trump could prevent a potential pardon. “Donald doesn’t take well to disrespect, and doesn’t forget who chooses to go against him,” he wrote. He also shared a screenshot of an article suggesting he was trying to “nuke” Combs’ chances of pardon, clarifying, “I didn’t say I would nuke anything, I simply said I will make sure Trump is aware.”
No, despite recently handing down a flurry of pardons, including one for reality stars Todd and Julie Chrisley, Trump did not include Combs on that list. But that doesn’t mean he can’t. According to Michigan State law professor Brian Kalt, Trump would be within his presidential rights to extend a preemptive pardon to Combs.
“These are federal charges so that’s the main limit,” Kalt tells USA TODAY. “The matter has (to) be federal, it has to be criminal vs. civil, and related to something that’s already been done. But the person doesn’t have to even be charged yet or convicted. The Supreme Court has said preemptive pardons are OK.”
When asked about a possible pardon during an Oval Office press conference on May 30, Trump said he hadn’t been approached about the legal matter but added, “I know people are thinking about it.”
Combs is facing federal sex-crimes and trafficking charges in a sprawling lawsuit that has eroded his status as a power player and kingmaker in the entertainment industry.
He was arrested in September 2024 and later charged with racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. The rapper has pleaded not guilty to all five counts against him.
What is racketeering?
Racketeering is the participation in an illegal scheme under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Statute, or RICO, as a way for the U.S. government to prosecute organizations that contribute to criminal activity.
Using RICO law, which is typically aimed at targeting multi-person criminal organizations, prosecutors allege that Combs coerced victims, some of whom they say were sex workers, through intimidation and narcotics to participate in “freak offs” — sometimes dayslong sex performances that federal prosecutors allege they have video of.
Where can I watch the Diddy trial?
The trial will not be televised, as cameras are typically not allowed in federal criminal trial proceedings.
USA TODAY will be reporting live from the courtroom. Sign up for our newsletter for more updates.
Contributing: USA TODAY staff
If you are a survivor of sexual assault, RAINN offers support through the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800.656.HOPE (4673) and Hotline.RAINN.org and en Español RAINN.org/es.
If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or text “START” to 88788.