Diddy‘s sex trafficking trial is officially under way, and his defense team is coming to the table with the accusation that ex-girlfriend Cassie physically abused him in their relationship.
According to TMZ, the topic came up in the courtroom on day four of the trial after prosecutor Emily Anne Johnson told Judge Arun Subramanian that Victim 1 (who is believed to be Cassie) will not be cross-examined about certain medical issues.
The judge replied saying that whatever issues prosecutors do touch on, the defense can also do so and cross-examine the witnesses on the topic(s).
It was then that Diddy’s attorney Marc Agnifilo said the defense “is going to take the position there was mutual violence in their relationship, hitting, on both sides. DV [domestic violence].”
He added, “We are absolutely going to admit to domestic violence. But at what point does it become coercive?”
In response to the judge asking whether “you’re arguing that they are just violent?” Agnifilo responded, “Right. We’re saying it’s relevant.”
While the abuse Cassie allegedly endured is not part of the charges Diddy’s facing, video of him beating her at the Intercontinental Hotel in L.A. in 2016 will be used in the trial in an effort to paint a picture of the embattled mogul’s personality – something he tried to exclude.
Diddy filed formal request that the judge excludes the tape on April 17.
His team revealed their plans to do so in a letter, where they claimed that “CNN purchased the only known copy of the Hotel’s surveillance footage, uploaded that footage into a free editing software, altered the video and then destroyed the original footage, even though it knew about and repeatedly reported about the federal investigation.”
The altering, his team says, includes “covering the time stamp and then changing the video sequence. It also includes speeding up the video to make it falsely appear that the actions in the video are taking place faster than they are.”
They argue that it is not an accurate representation of what really happened, and revealed plans to file a motion to exclude the video from the trial. Should what they allege be true, Diddy’s motion may be granted as courts rarely allow edited video evidence.
However, in a statement to HipHopDX, representatives for CNN said: “CNN never altered the video and did not destroy the original copy of the footage, which was retained by the source. CNN aired the story about the video several months before Combs was arrested.”
Johnson said in court this week that she plans to submit two cellphone videos and the corrected CNN footage of the beating.
Suki Waterhouse has spoken candidly about how she found herself crying constantly after the birth of her daughter.
The singer and actress reflected on her experience as a mother more than two years after she and her partner, actor Robert Pattinson, welcomed their baby girl in March 2024.
During an interview with The Standard published on Thursday, Suki explained that motherhood has completely shifted her outlook on life.
"I think it's made me marvel at our humanness. It's so funny, even just your kid getting a fever, watching a little body recover from that, it's brought me down to what it is to be alive and I really love that," she said. "It feels very survivalist and medieval in a way, especially birth, birth is medieval."
The Daisy Jones & The Six actress, 34, shared that she was caught off guard by just how exposed and emotional she felt after giving birth to her daughter.
"I'm almost two and a half years in now, but when she was first born, I remember thinking that I can't believe everybody does this and I can't believe how vulnerable I feel," she told the publication. "I was crying all the time."
Suki continued, "It makes me cry now thinking about it. It was just... shocking."
The Notting Hill singer also admitted that she has never considered herself someone who cries easily, making those emotions all the more surprising.
"It's so f**king weird! I'm not a cryer! I'm so not an emotional person, I'm such a Capricorn. But being a mum just fed me up in such a sweet way," she stated. "It just absolutely broke open my heart, and I'm just madly in love and, despite my crying right now, I enjoy it so much and I'm so taken by my daughter and so in love with doing it with my partner and I just feel the preciousness of it very much."
Suki and Twilight actor Robert, 40, have been in a relationship since 2018 and announced they were expecting their first child together toward the end of 2023.
The pair have largely kept their romance away from the spotlight and have yet to publicly share the name of their daughter.
