Cassie Said She Felt Like Diddy's 'Sex Worker': A Psychologist Testified that Money Can Enable Abuse

During her days-long bombshell testimony last week, Sean “Diddy” Combs’ ex-girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura told a Manhattan jury she felt like she had become Combs’ “sex worker” during their relationship.

She told the jury she “couldn’t do many of the things I wanted to” during her on-again, off-again 11 years relationship with Combs. “I had a whole other job,” she said.

“Basically a sex worker,” she said, referring to her role in “Freak Offs” — the orchestrated, days-long, drug-fueled sex sessions Combs allegedly forced her to participate in for years.

In court on Wednesday, May 21, a forensic psychologist testified about the nuances of financial dependence in romantic relationships being a “very important” element of the kind of abuse Ventura alleges she endured by Combs.

Financial dependence can strip a victim of the material resources needed to leave an abusive relationship, Dr. Dawn Hughes told the jury.

“If you don’t have money, you are left with a feeling of ‘Where am I going to go?’” she said.

Hughes’ testimony comes two days after Combs’ former personal assistant testified that Ventura had told him she could not leave Combs because he was in charge of everything in her life.

“I can’t get out. Mr. Combs oversees so much of my life,” she reportedly told David James, according to his testimony.

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Hughes further explained why it can take months or years to report abuse, and that victims are typically more willing to disclose assaults by strangers than by intimate partners.

“The closer the relationship to the perpetrator, the less likely you’re going to be to disclose,” she testified.

Hughes was a “blind witness” in the trial, meaning she was unaware of which side had retained her.

So far, jurors have heard from several witnesses, including Ventura herself, a male escort, Ventura’s mother and Combs’ former assistant. They have all provided damning testimony accusing Combs of abusing Ventura.

As someone who is not connected to either Combs or Ventura, or related to the investigation, Hughes’ testimony marked a significant point in the trial. Her testimony offered the jury context about how abuse can form and continue in intimate partner relationships, for jurors to compare the information to the circumstances being presented to them.

Hughes has previously testified in other high-profile sex crimes-related trials, notably of Harvey Weinstein and sex cult leader Keith Raniere, offering jurors context about tactics used by abusers to keep their victims in compliance. 

Combs’ defense team has previously tried to avoid having her as a witness.

They claimed in a motion filed in April that her testimony should be “excluded in its entirety” as it would constitute “advocacy masquerading as expertise,” NBC previously reported.

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.

If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.