Cassie Ventura is speaking on behalf of domestic violence victims and survivors just days after a 2016 video surfaced showing her ex-boyfriend Sean “Diddy” Combs assaulting her in a hotel hallway.
The R&B singer, 37, shared a heartfelt statement Thursday on Instagram, thanking those who have extended their “love and support.
“The outpouring of love has created a place for my younger self to settle and feel safe now, but this is only the beginning. Domestic Violence is THE issue. It broke me down to someone I never thought I would become,” she wrote.
Though she is “better today,” Ventura said she “will always be recovering from my past.”
She urged followers to “open your heart to believing victims the first time.
“It takes a lot of heart to tell the truth out of a situation that you were powerless in,” continued Ventura. “I offer my hand to those that are still living in fear.”
Urging fellow domestic violence victims and survivors to “reach out to your people, don’t cut them off,” Ventura noted that, “No one should carry this weight alone.”
CNN on Friday published security footage of the Bad Boy Records founder chasing Ventura down the hallway of a Los Angeles hotel before throwing her down to the ground, kicking and dragging her.
Combs apologized Sunday, noting he “take[s] full responsibility for my actions in that video” and that he “was disgusted then, when I did it. I’m disgusted now.”
First romantically linked in 2007, Ventura and Combs appeared to confirm their romance in 2012. They confirmed their split six years later and Ventura wed Alex Fine the following year.
In November, Ventura filed a lawsuit against the Harlem-born music mogul, 54, accusing him of rape, sex trafficking and physical abuse — with one of the incidents laid out in the lawsuit closely resembling the altercation captured in the video. They settled a day later, due to the existence of the video, as a former CIA and FBI special agent said last week.
Several other accusers have since come forward with their own lawsuits accusing Combs of sexual harassment, sexual assault and drugging.
Federal authorities in March raided Combs’ homes in Miami and Los Angeles as part of a federal sex trafficking probe.
