LOS ANGELES — Singer Cassie broke her silence Thursday about the security video showing Sean "Diddy" Combs physically assaulting her in a hotel hallway in 2016.
"Thank you for all of the love and support from my family, friends, strangers and those I have yet to meet," the singer, whose legal name is Cassandra Ventura, shared in a statement posted to Instagram. "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," Ventura's statement continues. "It broke me down to someone I never thought I would become. With a lot of hard work, I am better today, but I will always be recovering from my past."
Cassie encouraged people to believe and support victims of domestic violence, and offered her support to those affected by it.
"No one should carry this weight alone," she wrote.
Days after CNN aired the 2016 footage, Combs released a video admitting he attacked Cassie in the hotel hallway, saying he was “truly sorry” and his actions were “inexcusable.” Combs can't be criminally prosecuted for the beating because of the statute of limitations.
The security video shows Combs, wearing only a white towel, punching and kicking Cassie, his protégé and longtime girlfriend at the time. The footage also shows Combs shoving and dragging Cassie, and throwing a vase in her direction.
Cassie sued Combs in November over what she said was years of sexual, physical and emotional abuse. The suit was settled the next day, but spurred intense scrutiny of Combs, with several more lawsuits filed in the following months, along with a federal criminal sex-trafficking investigation that led authorities to raid Combs’ mansions in Los Angeles and Miami. Combs has denied the allegations in the lawsuits.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
