Site last updated: Thursday, June 20, 2024

Log In

Reset Password
MENU
Butler County's great daily newspaper

Sean 'Diddy' Combs accused of 2003 sexual assault in lawsuit

PEOPLE
Sean 'Diddy' Combs

NEW YORK — A former model accused Sean “Diddy” Combs of sexually assaulting her at his New York City recording studio in 2003 in a lawsuit filed Tuesday, the latest in a series of allegations against the embattled hip-hop mogul.

The woman said she was a successful 22-year-old model when she met Combs at a Manhattan restaurant. Combs invited her to his recording studio later that night, according to the complaint.

The lawsuit alleges the woman arrived to find Combs drinking and smoking joints with several other men. She smoked some marijuana, which she “later came to understand” was laced with a narcotic or intoxicating substance, the lawsuit says. She said felt as though she was floating. Combs led her to the bathroom, where the sexual assault took place.

Combs led her back to the studio and she lost consciousness, the lawsuit says. She later awakened in a taxi and realized she had been sexually assaulted, according to the fling.

The lawsuit was filed days after CNN aired security video that shows Combs attacking singer Cassie in a Los Angeles hotel hallway in 2016. Combs on Sunday released a video admitting he attacked Cassie in the hotel hallway, saying he was “truly sorry” and his actions were “inexcusable.”

Combs is not in danger of being criminally prosecuted for the beating because of the statute of limitations.

A lawsuit filed by Cassie in November alleging beatings and abuse was settled a day after it was filed. But it 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.

———

Venus Williams

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — Barbie dolls will honor tennis champion Venus Williams and eight other athletes as part of a project announced by Mattel on Wednesday.

The others being depicted as dolls are gymnasts Rebeca Andrade and Alexa Moreno, soccer players Mary Fowler and Christine Sinclair, boxer Estelle Mossely, swimmer Federica Pellegrini, paratriathlete Susana Rodriguez and track and field sprinter Ewa Swoboda.

The brand wanted to note "the impact of sports in fostering self-confidence, ambition, and empowerment among the next generation,” Mattel's Krista Berger said.

———

Matthew Perry

LOS ANGELES — Authorities have opened an investigation into how Matthew Perry received the supply of ketamine that killed him, police said Tuesday.

Los Angeles police are working with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service with a probe into why the 54-year-old “Friends” star had so much of the drug in his system, LAPD Capt. Scot Williams said in an email.

An assistant found the 54-year-old Perry face down in his hot tub on Oct. 28, and paramedics who were called immediately declared him dead. His autopsy, released in December, found that the amount of ketamine in his blood was in the range used for general anesthesia during surgery. It was listed as the primary cause of death, which was ruled an accident with no foul play suspected, the report said.

Drowning and other medical issues were contributing factors, the coroner said.

People close to the actor told coroner's investigators that he was undergoing ketamine infusion therapy. The decades-old surgical drug has seen a huge surge in use in recent years as a treatment for depression, anxiety and pain.

But the medical examiner said Perry's last treatment 1 1/2 weeks earlier wouldn’t explain the levels of ketamine in his blood. The drug is typically metabolized in a matter of hours. At least two doctors were treating Perry, a psychiatrist and an anesthesiologist who served as his primary care physician, the medical examiner’s report said. No illicit drugs or paraphernalia were found at his house.

Perry had years of struggles with addiction dating back to his time on “Friends," when he became one of the biggest television stars of his generation as Chandler Bing alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer for 10 seasons from 1994 to 2004 on NBC’s megahit sitcom.

Drug-related celebrity deaths have in other cases led authorities to prosecute the people who supplied them, including Mac Miller, Anna Nicole Smith and Michael Jackson.

———

Jason Momoa

Jason Momoa has gone official with his latest love interest: Adria Arjona.

Snapshots from a trip to Japan with the 32-year-old “Hit Man” actress by his side were shared on social media Monday.

“Japan, you are a dream come true you blew my mind,” he wrote in the post, tagging Arjona’s Instagram account. “We’re so thankful for everyone who opened their homes, making memories with new friends and old friends, sharing another amazing adventure with mi amor.

“ON THE ROAM motorcycles and mayhem. All my aloha j,” the 44-year-old added.

Earlier in the month, Momoa — who was the subject of an online petition to become People’s “Sexiest Man Alive” last year — hinted that he was “very much in a relationship” during Basingstoke Comic Con in the U.K.

“You’ll find out very soon,” he teased fans at the time. “I’ve been in a relationship for a while.”

The Puerto Rican beauty starred alongside Momoa in the 2021 Netflix flick “Sweet Girl,” while he was still legally married to Lisa Bonet.

After 13 years together. the 56-year-old “Cosby Show” star and the hunky Hawaiian heartthrob were married in October 2017. The couple are the parents of daughter Lola, 16, and son Nakoa-Wolf, 15.

Bonet, also the mother of Zoë Kravitz, filed for divorce in January, two years after the duo announced that they’d officially split.

Momoa briefly dated Mexican actress and singer Eiza González for a few months in 2022.

From combined wire reports

More in People

Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter

* indicates required
TODAY'S PHOTOS