As Sean “Diddy” Combs continues to face federal charges including sex trafficking and assault, testimony from his former assistant — identified in court as “Mia” — resumed Friday with new details about the aftermath of Cassie Ventura’s 2023 lawsuit.
Mia told the court that shortly after Cassie’s bombshell lawsuit went public, she was contacted by one of Combs’s bodyguards asking her to issue a public statement in his defense. According to Mia, that request triggered a wave of panic.
“I threw my phone as far as it would go and it went behind the couch and I ran outside,” she testified. “It was just so triggering.”
The pressure didn’t stop there. Mia said she received direct communication from Combs himself, who reached out via text in February 2024, as his public image came under scrutiny.
“You were my right hand for years so I just need to speak to you to remember who was even around me, and it would be good to hear your voice,” Combs wrote, ending the message with a heart and praying hands emoji. “But if you don’t want to, all good. Just let me know. Love.”
Mia testified that the tone of the message was very different from how he treated her while she worked for him. She previously told the jury Combs once left her 48 missed calls and voicemails in one night. The calmness of the new message, she said, felt intentional and strategic.
Around the same time, Mia said she was dodging other calls and texts from Combs’s team. She admitted that she gave vague excuses, like saying she was “scuba diving,” just to avoid confrontation. “I pretended like, ‘yeah of course I will, no problem,’” she told the court. “Because I was terrified of him.”
Mia also opened up about the long-term impact her former job had on her mental health. She testified that simple tasks, like responding to an email or hearing someone say her name in public, would bring back the same anxiety she felt when working under Combs’s direction.
“I would be triggered by really normal situations,” she said. “I triple-guessed myself in everything I did.”
Her testimony is central to the prosecution’s claim that Combs cultivated an environment of control, fear, and silence around those closest to him.
