Sean “Diddy” Combs’ alleged violence toward women dates back to his days as a student at Howard University in the late 1980s, when the future hip-hop mogul purportedly attacked a girlfriend outside of her dorm, horrifying her classmates and friends, three sources claim to Rolling Stone.
Combs allegedly screamed in a “belligerent” manner for the young woman to come outside, and began hitting her with what appeared to be a belt when she emerged, according to one eyewitness. “She was trying to defend herself a little bit,” the eyewitness says. “She was crying. And we were telling him, ‘Get off of her.’ We were screaming for her.” (The woman at the center of the alleged attack declined to speak with Rolling Stone.)
When reached for comment, Combs did not specifically address the new allegation. “Mr. Combs cannot comment on settled litigation, will not comment on pending litigation, and cannot address every allegation picked up by the press from any source, no matter how unreliable,” his lawyer, Jonathan Davis, tells Rolling Stone. “We are aware that the proper authorities are conducting a thorough investigation and therefore have confidence any important issues will be addressed in the proper forum, where the rules distinguish facts from fiction.”
The previously unreported incident was part of a six-month Rolling Stone investigation into the Bad Boy Entertainment founder. The career-spanning article, published Tuesday and including interviews with more than 50 people, also uncovered new details of alleged physical aggression inside Bad Boy’s offices and claims that Combs sexually harassed a business associate at a party he threw to celebrate his 2001 acquittal in a nightclub shooting.
The new claims bolster the public allegations made against Combs in the six sex-assault lawsuits filed by five women and one man after R&B singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura stepped forward with her bombshell sex-trafficking lawsuit last November. Several people who spoke to Rolling Stone described Combs as a serial predator who used his fame, fortune, industry status, and reputation as a fun-loving party host to hide a volatile temper and disturbing, narcissistic behavior for decades.
While many were shocked by the claims made against Combs — some of which were corroborated by surveillance footage obtained by CNN that shows Combs beating Ventura in a Los Angeles hotel in 2016 — several women who attended Howard with Combs say they had seen signs of a controlling and abusive personality even before the mogul’s career began.
Combs arrived at the esteemed college in the fall of 1987 and quickly earned a reputation for throwing legendary, rowdy parties. While some alums remember Combs for his “once-in-a-lifetime” bashes and over-the-top, flamboyant personality, others recall fits of rage, acts of unwanted touching, and public violence.
The night Combs allegedly turned up to the school’s historic Harriet Tubman Quadrangle dorm and began screaming for his girlfriend to come outside, other women in the dorm began running through the halls, knocking on doors in a panic, former classmates tell Rolling Stone. They were sounding the alarm that Combs, known then by his nickname “Puff,” was attacking the young woman outside, one classmate recalls. “Puff is out here acting crazy. He’s beating her,” the fellow students said, according to the classmate.
“He screamed and hollered and acted a stone fool until she came downstairs,” another Howard student who witnessed the alleged attack tells Rolling Stone. She said Combs used what appeared to be a belt to strike the young woman “all over the place.” Speaking on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the incident, the witness says Combs appeared “super angry” and was “screaming at the top of his lungs.” She said he “whupped her butt — like really whupped her butt.” A third source also recalled the alleged assault to Rolling Stone.
One of the former students says Combs would often turn up to his girlfriend’s English class, tapping on the window to get her to ditch the lesson. The visits were a regular occurrence and eventually became noticeably unwelcome, the classmate says. “She would tense up [when Combs arrived]. Her energy shifted,” the student, who sat next to the woman in class, recalls. “He just had a weird control thing. I felt like she was fearful.”
Another classmate says she kept “as far away as possible” from Combs after he “caressed” her back without warning and asked if she would be willing to meet one of his friends. Another former student remembers Combs “flying off the handle” and yelling at her simply because she questioned him cutting a cafeteria line.
Combs’ alleged violence toward women was a pattern that followed him throughout his life, according to two lawsuits and sources. Former Bad Boy president Kirk Burrowes says he once saw Combs attack a woman inside Bad Boy’s office in 1994. He and another ex-employee tell Rolling Stone they had to tear Combs off the woman after hearing screams and the sound of shattering glass. (The woman declined Rolling Stone’s request for comment.)
Felicia Newsome, the first manager of Bad Boy’s recording studio, Daddy’s House, says she once held Combs back when he was about to “beat this girl’s ass” after a fight broke out between two women over Christopher Wallace, a.k.a. the Notorious B.I.G. “I’m holding him by his waist, I’m saying to him, ‘You need to calm down. This is not your fight,’” Newsome recalls.
Combs’ relationship with his long-term partner, Kim Porter, who died of lobar pneumonia in 2018, was tumultuous, according to two sources, who claim Combs physically abused her. “I remember Kim used to go through a lot of stuff,” former Bad Boy rapper Mark Curry tells Rolling Stone. “If you live around them, you get to see the toxic relationship.… I think every relationship he may have had that I experienced around him was like that.”
While Combs’ future is still uncertain — a federal investigation looms after Homeland Security agents raided his homes in March — some who knew Combs at Howard have long suspected his legacy would end in disgrace. “None of this was really a surprise for me,” says one of the Howard alums who had knowledge of Combs’ attack on a classmate. “You’re already an abuser [in college]. You were already feeling you had to have certain power over people.” Another says Combs must now face accountability: “It’s time.”
For the full story, read Rolling Stone‘s complete feature Bad Boy for Life.
