NEED TO KNOW
- A former escort hired for Sean “Diddy” Combs’ alleged “freak offs” exclusively tells PEOPLE that his final experiences with Combs and Cassandra “Cassie” Ventura were “darker” than their initial encounters
- Shawn Dearing claims that Ventura was “playing her role,” and “it was evil”
- Dearing’s photo and past alias were revealed during Combs’ sex trafficking trial
A former escort allegedly hired by Sean “Diddy” Combs for “more than a dozen” of the music mogul’s “freak offs” with Cassandra “Cassie” Ventura says “the tone” of the sex parties changed over time.
“I just would say overall, the tone was a little darker towards the last times I’d seen them,” Shawn Dearing claims in an exclusive interview with PEOPLE.
“I got to see the dark side of things,” the model, 37, adds.
Ventura’s attitude during those final “freak offs” was, “I’m here, I have to perform. Let’s do this,” Dearing alleges.
“It was more of a ‘doing this to please him’ type of spirit overall,” he notes. “I can tell when the energy was different.”
Ventura, 38, “was playing her role,” Dearing claims. “It was evil … and she was under that.”
Dearing continues, “In my opinion, in that situation, she didn’t know if this was a beast she could control or not anymore. So she was along for the ride, because she had to, because who knows? Who knows where this beast is going, and there’s no way to tame it.”
Ventura broke down in tears while testifying about the “freak offs” during Combs’ sex trafficking trial on Friday, May 16. The “Me & U” singer claimed that Combs coerced her into participating in what federal prosecutors have described as “elaborate and produced sex performances” through physical violence and threats of blackmail.
“I had to do ‘freak offs’,” she said on the stand, after telling the court on Wednesday, May 14, that she did not want to do them.
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Dearing says Combs first hired him in late 2014 or early 2015 through the website Cowboys4Angels and that he did not know the identity of the client beforehand.
He claims he was booked for “more than a dozen” sessions with Combs and Ventura, which typically took place at either a bungalow at The Beverly Hills Hotel or a condo off Sunset Blvd. in Los Angeles that he believes belonged to Ventura.
After leaving escorting behind in 2017 and moving back to his home state of Hawaii, Dearing says Combs tried to hire him again. He passed.
“I just kind of had to do a lot of personal soul searching, in a sense,” he explains. “I stepped away from that, realizing it was darker. Because honestly, I do care about these ladies. So I had to step away.”
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Dearing adds, “I never thought that [escorting] was part of my life plan.”
Though he is “on a different path these days,” Dearing says he is unfazed by others’ opinions of him.
“The truth is, I don’t care what anyone says about me,” he shares. “If people would want to think negative thoughts about me, that’s on them.”
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Dearing says he has only come forward now to lend “some credence” to Ventura’s story, after prosecutors revealed his photo and alias in court.
Combs’ trial is currently is now entering its fifth week. He faces charges of sex trafficking, racketeering, and transportation to engage in prostitution. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
A lawyer for Combs did not respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
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.
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