What to know about Cassie's life now, as she testifies against Sean 'Diddy' Combs in his criminal trial
She met Sean Combs, aka Diddy, in 2006 and signed to his label Bad Boy.
She filed a lawsuit against him in 2023 and is a key witness in his criminal sex-trafficking and racketeering trial.
Cassie burst onto the music scene in 2006 with an irresistible blend of pop and R&B.
Although the singer, whose legal name is Casandra Ventura, withdrew from the spotlight in the ensuing years, she's still beloved by fans of 2000s club jams.
In 2023, she filed a lawsuit against Sean "Diddy" Combs, alleging abuse throughout their relationship, including rape. An attorney for Combs denied the allegations to Business Insider. Cassie is now a key accuser in Combs' criminal sex-trafficking and racketeering trial, which began on Monday.
Here's everything to know about Cassie's career, her connection to Diddy, and what her life is like today.
Before launching her music career, Cassie had done some modeling for brands like Delia's.
In 2006, when she was 19 years old, she released her debut single "Me & U." It became her first hit, reaching No. 1 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and No. 3 on the Hot 100.
"Me & U" set the tone for her self-titled debut album, which was praised by critics for its "hypnotic groove" and "flippant playfulness." Rolling Stone later described the album as "the most brilliantly minimalist R&B album of its era."
In a positive review for Slant, Sal Cinquemani also said, "'Me & U' has single-handedly revived his ailing Bad Boy imprint," referring to Combs, then known as Diddy.
An archived feature from 2008 said that Combs heard "Me & U" in a club and felt inspired to help Cassie's career.
Combs teamed up with Ryan Leslie, who wrote and produced the song, to record Cassie's album.
In 2008, she announced her plans to release her sophomore album.
"I guess I grew up a lot but I'm still in essence the same person," Cassie, then 21, told Billboard. "Lots has changed in my life, stuff that has made me think about things differently. I'm more vulnerable and you can hear my vocals better this time around. There's real emotion and a much realer connection with my fans."
At the time, Combs praised Cassie's musical development, which he said was reflected in the album.
"We pulled out, we took our time, we developed her for like, a year-and-a-half," he told Billboard in a 2008 interview. "People are just going to see her there and be like, 'Wow, she's really cocooned into a butterfly.'"
However, the album was delayed several times. She didn't release new music until 2012, when she surprise-dropped a set of three mixtapes. She continued releasing singles sporadically in the years following.
Cassie played Sophie in the 2008 film "Step Up 2: The Streets," and has also appeared in "The Perfect Match" and on several episodes of "Empire."
Additionally, she appeared in the 2022 TV movie "Hip Hop Family Christmas Wedding."
Prior to her lawsuit, gossip news sites reported that Cassie and Combs maintained an on-again, off-again relationship. They reportedly started dating in 2007 and broke up in 2018.
Cassie's 2023 civil lawsuit accused Combs of serious allegations, painting the music mogul as an extremely violent and angry ex-partner.
It details several instances when the music mogul physically and mentally abused Cassie, as well as used intimidation tactics to keep her in the relationship. Combs quickly settled the suit shortly after it was filed.
Combs has been accused of sexual assault, rape, drugging, and other forms of violence in more than 50 civil lawsuits. He was arrested in September following a grand jury indictment and has denied the charges against him and all other allegations of sex abuse.
Combs' criminal sex-trafficking and racketeering trial began on Monday. Cassie, the prosecution's key witness in the case, took the stand on Tuesday and Wednesday to testify against Combs.
Following her split from Combs in 2018, Cassie began a relationship with Alex Fine, a professional bull rider, model, and personal trainer.
In June 2019, the singer revealed that she and Fine were expecting their first child together. The couple tied the knot in a small, surprise wedding in September of that year in Malibu, California. Their daughter, Frankie Stone, was born in early December.
Cassie and Fine welcomed their second child, a baby girl named Sunny Cinco, in March 2021.
In February 2025, Cassie revealed that she's pregnant with their third child, a son.
Libby Torres contributed to an earlier version of this story.
Read the original article on Business Insider
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Insider
2 minutes ago
- Business Insider
How the Black aristocracy of the Gilded Age ushered in a new era of education and freedom
Season three of "The Gilded Age" has continued to explore what it was like for wealthy Black Americans in the late 1800s in New York City. One main storyline in "The Gilded Age" follows Peggy Scott (played by Denée Benton), an author, journalist, and daughter of a formerly enslaved man, Arthur Scott, who is a successful pharmacist and business owner in Brooklyn. Her mother, Dorothy Scott, is an accomplished piano player. Peggy's character was inspired by a few real-life women, including Julia C. Collins, the first Black female author to publish a novel. "The Black elite of the Gilded Age signaled that we, too, have taste. We too have education. We are like other citizens," Carla Peterson, historian and author of "Black Gotham: A Family History of African Americans in Nineteenth-Century New York City," told Business Insider. After the Emancipation Proclamation was signed in 1863, the Gilded Age ushered in a Black aristocracy. The new class was made up of Black Americans who managed to amass wealth they'd previously been barred from. Industrialization and the railroad boom opened up business opportunities across the US. Many of the Black elite were made up of the "shopkeeping aristocracy" who owned retail and grocery stores and pharmacies, according to Peterson. "After the Civil War, there was an incredible explosion of modern industry, technology, and science, which fueled the money that makes the Gilded Age," Peterson said. "Black families of wealth emerged in this context." For example, Thomas Downing became one of the wealthiest people in NYC and was known as the"New York Oyster King." Thomas Downing, the son of formerly enslaved parents, moved to New York City and became a savvy businessman who popularized oysters, which had once been considered common food. In 1825, he opened the upscale Thomas Downing Oyster House, a restaurant so popular that Downing was nicknamed "the "New York Oyster King." Downing was one of the wealthiest people in New York City at the time of his death in 1866 — a millionaire in today's money, per The Virginian-Pilot. Still, he was prohibited from acquiring US citizenship until the Civil Rights Act of 1866 was passed, just one day before he died. Or maybe you've heard of Pierre Toussaint. Toussaint was born into slavery in Haiti and was eventually freed in New York City. He became a highly sought-after hairdresser among the society's upper crust, and used his new wealth to support orphans and immigrants to gain education and employment. Women also became more independent and wealthy, such as Mary Ellen Pleasant. Mary Ellen Pleasant became a self-made millionaire after she moved to San Francisco, following the glimmer of the California Gold Rush. While she worked as domestic help, she listened to the wealthy men she served as they exchanged information on making proper investments and managing money. Pleasant used that knowledge to buy up boarding houses, laundromats, restaurants, and Wells Fargo shares, becoming a famous figure in San Francisco in the second half of the 19th century. Some estimates by historians put her wealth around $30 million, which would be almost a billion in today's money. Gaining access to education was one of the ways Black New Yorkers achieved upward mobility. Money alone didn't grant access to the upper echelons of Black society. In addition to having "character" and "respectability," the Black elite emphasized both education and hard work as core values, according to Peterson. "Since Blacks came to this country, education has always been number one," Peterson told Business Insider. "There is a belief that if you had ambition, you could do anything you wanted. And ambition started with education." On February 25, 1837, Quaker philanthropist Richard Humphreys founded the first HBCU in the country, the African Institute — now Cheyney University — in Pennsylvania. The majority of HBCUs originated from 1865 to 1900, the period following the Emancipation Proclamation. Education was key to unlocking the skills to become a doctor or pharmacist, and also led to a flourishing of interests in humanities and the arts, according to Peterson. Scholars like W.E.B. Du Bois advocated for the need for an educated class. "The Negro race, like all races, is going to be saved by its exceptional men," Du Bois wrote in his essay, 'Talented Tenth." But as the name "Gilded Age" implies, not everyone was raking in wealth. Not everyone lived lavish lifestyles. The Gilded Age was also notorious for having the most significant wealth inequality in American history. The vast majority of workers, especially Black Americans and immigrants, faced extreme poverty and harsh working conditions in factories. "Chattel slavery is dead, but industrial slavery remains," economist and New York mayoral candidate Henry George said in 1886. And racism prevented even the most successful people of color from becoming fully integrated. Even those who did manage to gain wealth faced pervasive systemic inequities. White society largely viewed Black Americans as "a homogenous mass of degraded people," according to historian Willard B. Gatewood in his book, "Aristocrats of Color: The Black Elite." There was, however, a "certain amount of cooperation and interracial alliances between Blacks and whites," Peterson said. Peterson described how professional relationships enabled Black Americans to climb the ranks within businesses. She also pointed to the King's Daughters, a nationwide charity organization where white and Black women worked together to help those in need. Friendships between characters like Peggy and Marian, a white woman, in "The Gilded Age" were not unheard of. Erica Armstrong Dunbar, a professor of history at Rutgers University, told The Los Angeles Times about "the letters of white suffragists, women who had deep relationships with Black women, from the era of abolition up through the early 20th century." Activism of the 20th century would not have been possible without these men and women. Peterson said the emergence of the Black elite is inextricably tied to the burgeoning political and social activism in the 20th century, as exemplified by the 1909 founding of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the political magazine The Crisis, and the Harlem Renaissance.
Forbes
32 minutes ago
- Forbes
Ozzy Osbourne Owns 90% Of A Billboard Chart
It's not unusual for superstar musicians who have recently passed away to dominate one Billboard ranking or another, as fans react to tragic news by buying or streaming — or in many cases, consuming in both manners — many of an artist's most familiar tracks. Ozzy Osbourne is the latest legend to be honored in such a way, as he invades a number of tallies in the United States, both under his own name and as a member of Black Sabbath. Osbourne's power and popularity are especially prevalent on one sales ranking, where he almost completely dominates. Ozzy Osbourne Occupies 90% of One Chart On this week's Hard Rock Digital Song Sales chart, Osbourne occupies 90% of the available spots. The tally features just 10 positions, and nine of them are filled by either Osbourne's solo cuts or Black Sabbath tracks. The Top Three Songs at Once Osbourne's three highest-rising hits are solo affairs, with "Mama, I'm Coming Home" returning to No. 1 just weeks after it first led the charge. That classic is followed by "Crazy Train" at No. 2 and "No More Tears," which climbs to No. 3, hitting a never-before-seen peak in its third frame. 'Close My Eyes Forever,' "Dreamer" and "Shot in the Dark" Debut The rocker also scores a trio of brand new smashes on the Hard Rock Digital Song Sales chart at the same time. "Close My Eyes Forever" with Lita Ford, "Dreamer," and "Shot in the Dark" all debut this frame. Those tunes close out the ranking as they come in at Nos. 8, 9, and 10, respectively. 'Paranoid' Returns to its All-Time High Sandwiched in between Osbourne's two winning streaks are a pair of Black Sabbath cuts. "Paranoid" returns to its all-time high of No. 5, while "Iron Man" reenters at No. 6, just shy of No. 4, where it previously peaked. Yungblud Breaks Things Up The only track that manages to break up Osbourne's run is "Changes (Live from Villa Park) Back to the Beginning." That cut is fronted by alternative powerhouse Yungblud and also credits Nuno Bettencourt, Frank Bello, Adam Wakeman and II. The tune debuts at No. 4, and had it been released at any other time, there's a real possibility Osbourne would have become the rare superstar to completely fill a Billboard chart in a single frame.
Forbes
32 minutes ago
- Forbes
Eminem Surges With Multiple Classic Hits
Eminem is only a few weeks removed from his last debut on the Billboard charts in America. In July, the rapper joined JID on the track "Animals (Pt. 1)," which quickly became a bestselling hit and landed on a handful of tallies. This week, without releasing any new material, Eminem is back on multiple rankings, but this time, with classics. Some of the tracks that helped turn him into a global powerhouse and one of the most consistent hitmakers in hip-hop history are experiencing something of a resurgence. 'Lose Yourself' Becomes a Bestseller Again Two of Eminem's most iconic compositions return to Billboard's charts this frame, with each reappearing on a separate tally. There's no crossover between them, as the cuts don't show up on the same list, and each one only lands on a single roster. The biggest winner between them is "Lose Yourself," which returns to the R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Song Sales chart. As the Oscar- and Grammy-winning cut approaches 500 weeks on that tally, it reenters at No. 15. 'Without Me' Returns to the Global Chart Eminem also claims a worldwide success again this frame, as "Without Me" reappears on the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. The decades-old tune barely makes the list, settling at No. 199 on the 200-spot roster. The ranking reflects the most consumed tracks worldwide, without factoring in streams or sales from American listeners. Curtain Call: The Hits Also Enjoys a Big Week Back in the U.S., Eminem's compilation album Curtain Call: The Hits also grows. The project inches forward on multiple rankings, possibly buoyed by a sales uptick tied to "Lose Yourself," or perhaps its ascent is simply due to the compilation's continued appeal, as it features many of the rapper's most famous singles. Curtain Call returns to the top 10 on the Top Rap Albums chart, lifting to No. 10. It also climbs one spot on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums list, rising to No. 14. The set — one of the longest-charting ever on the Billboard 200 — holds steady at No. 55, and in about a month, it will become one of only a handful of titles to reach 750 frames on the all-encompassing, competitive roster.
