Cassie Ventura Didn’t Consent to Alleged Abuse By Sean “Diddy” Combs — She Adapted
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In this op-ed, Mags Lesiak, a criminologist specializing in domestic violence, takes on criticism of Cassie Ventura after her testimony in the Sean “Diddy” Combs trial.
When Casandra Ventura was 19, she met 37-year-old Sean “Diddy” Combs, a music mogul who seemed to offer her “unprecedented avenues for success,” according to court filings. Combs signed Ventura, who goes by Cassie professionally, to his label, Bad Boy Records, in 2006, and her debut album was released later that year, court filings indicate. Sometime within that period, Ventura and Combs became romantically involved, making Combs her employer, her label head, her professional future, and her boyfriend. According to several court documents and now to testimony, including Ventura’s own, in Combs’s sex trafficking trial, it was the beginning of a nightmare.
Ventura is one of dozens of individuals who have accused Combs of sexual assault. In fact, in addition to the ongoing federal criminal case, more than 70 civil lawsuits have been filed against him, with a number of accusers claiming they were drugged before being raped or assaulted. (Ventura filed a civil lawsuit against Combs in 2023 that was quickly settled.) Combs has repeatedly denied all allegations against him and pleaded not guilty to all charges in his federal sex trafficking trial. He could face 15 years to life in prison if convicted. Ventura, however, served as the star witness in the criminal trial against Combs, detailing the alleged horrors she faced during their relationship. As many women making accusations against powerful men have experienced, this testimony has subjected Ventura to a host of questions — including criticism for staying in an allegedly abusive relationship.
But to me, it’s clear that this isn’t a story about bad choices. It’s a story about survival in a world that too often mistakes coercion for consent.
I’m a psychological criminologist and doctoral researcher at the University of Cambridge who specializes in coercive control, trauma bonding, and how cultural norms shape young women’s emotional vulnerability in relationships. I’ve studied relationships that involve abuse, as Ventura’s allegedly did. Though there can be love involved, often what appears from the outside to be love or consent is a strategy for survival on the victim’s part.
In her testimony during Combs’s criminal trial, Ventura described falling in love with him, saying she believed his “real personality” to be “sweet, attentive.” This aligns with what I’ve seen in my work in terms of how many perpetrators establish a connection. They often love-bomb, and flatter, building trust through affection and illusion. Once the victim is emotionally attached, the tone begins to shift. Isolation begins. Control tightens. Autonomy erodes. The baseline of being in love can weaken someone’s boundaries, as can power. Combs had both.
When abuse starts, victims often adapt, something I also noticed in Ventura’s testimony. She testified that the alleged “freak offs” — drug-fueled sex encounters that she said he often filmed — “disgusted” and “humiliated” her. When asked why she agreed to participate, Ventura said, “I wanted to make him happy.”
From what I’ve seen in my research on survivors, what may appear outwardly as consent from victims can be an attempt to survive or to appease an abuser. Every “choice” becomes strategic: keep the perpetrator calm, stay desirable, avoid triggering possible punishment. And in cases where there’s also an intense power imbalance professionally or otherwise, the survivor may have even fewer options — if leaving involves the possibility of both physical violence as well as career and financial ruin, what choice is it really?
Ventura seemed to say as much in her testimony. At one point, she said she tried to talk to Combs about stopping the freak offs, but backtracked when he seemed to respond dismissively. “I wouldn’t want to make him angry, I really didn’t want him to be upset or not trust me,” she testified about why she reversed course, calling him a “scary person.” Combs, Ventura told the court, ultimately controlled many aspects of her life. “Control was everything — from the way that I looked, to what I was working on that day, who I was speaking to,” she testified. “Control was an all around thing to a certain point.” Where was there to go?
Content retrieved from: https://www.teenvogue.com/story/cassie-ventura-didnt-consent-to-alleged-abuse-by-sean-diddy-combs.
