Sean “Diddy” Combs’ Mother Janice often threw wild parties at the future music mogul’s parents’ house. And where it wasn’t unusual to walk into a room where adults were having sex. That’s what one of Combs’ longtime childhood friends claims in a new one documentary.
“That was what we were privy to. That’s what we were fed,” says hip-hop producer Tim ‘Dawg’ Patterson in Diddy: The Making of a Bad Boy on Tuesday, January 14th Peacock premieres. “Has it dulled us? I’m sure it has. Were we aware of that? No, it was just Saturday night.”
Combs’ freakoffs
Patterson used this alleged childhood memory as a possible explanation for how Combs became the focus of a federal organized crime and sex trafficking investigation. In which he is accused of forcing his ex-girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura to participate in filmed, drug-fueled meetings with male sex workers. Which Combs allegedly referred to as “freak offs.”
The 55-year-old also faces nearly 40 civil lawsuits from men and women who claim he sexually harassed them between 1990 and 2024. Combs’ legal team pleaded not guilty to the three criminal charges filed against him. And categorically rejected the allegations made against him in the civil lawsuits. “Mr. Combs has never sexually harassed or sexually exploited anyone – men or women, adults or minors,” an earlier statement said.
“I was always asked the question why,” says Patterson. “I don’t know why. But I really believe it all goes back to childhood.” (Representatives for Sean and Janice Combs did not immediately respond to requests for comment.)
Friends from Mount Vernon, former colleagues at Uptown Records and classmates at Howard University
The new Peacock documentary delves into Combs’ childhood and early adolescence, speaking with friends from Mount Vernon, early colleagues at Uptown Records and Howard University classmate turned hit-man music producer Ron “Amen-Ra” Lawrence.
Combs grew up in Mount Vernon, a suburb on the edge of Upper Manhattan. Janice had moved there with her young family after Combs’ father Melvin was murdered in 1972. Melvin, a known accomplice of Harlem drug lords including Nicky Barnes, Willie Abraham and Frank Lucas, was valid, was found in a car with two shots in the head.
Melvin’s gruesome murder
Janice kept the details of Melvin’s gruesome murder from her young son in order to give him an idyllic childhood. Combs was always perfectly dressed. And was therefore “viewed as a rich kid,” Patterson says in the documentary. He played baseball in the youth league. Served as an altar boy. And was accepted onto the football team at his private Catholic school for boys. But Combs’ peers could “smell that he wasn’t tough,” Patterson said. And claimed that Combs was severely bullied as a child.
Drug addicts, lesbians, homosexuals, pimps, dealers
There was “always something going on” at home, Patterson said, adding that Janice Combs often threw parties at the house. “Celebrated at the weekend [Combs] in the house, and we did that a lot,” he said. “He was surrounded by all kinds of alcohol. He was surrounded by hashish smoke. Drug addicts, lesbians, homosexuals, pimps, dealers. That was just who was in our house. The people who came to the parties came from Harlem. From the street. It could happen that you accidentally went into one of the bedrooms and found a naked couple there.”
DJ EZ Lee Davis, also a Mount Vernon native who was friends with Combs and played for Mary J. Blige in her early years, said he never attended Janice’s parties. But heard rumors about the parties where “everyone was welcome.”
“[Janice] had some cool girls come over and…she made everyone feel comfortable,” Davis explained with a laugh.
Softcore porn
Combs previously mentioned that he was introduced to sex at an early age, frequently watched softcore porn, and lost his virginity at the age of 12. Mimicking the rough movements he’d seen in adult videos. “I behaved just like porn stars. I slapped that ass. I slapped the girls’ asses,” he said Vibe 1999. “I didn’t do it alone. She wanted me to slap that ass. I turned it around because I saw it in the movie. And then she told me to do it again.”
The 90-minute documentary also features interviews with singer Al B. Sure! (whose real name is Albert Joseph Brown), who is speaking out for the first time about his bitter, decades-long relationship with Combs after the music manager aggressively courted model Kim Porter. At the time, Porter was dating Brown and had just given birth to their son, Quincy.
If convicted, he faces 15 years to life in prison
Da-Band star Sara Rivers also speaks out for the first time and describes a disturbing experience with Combs while filming the MTV reality show Making the Band in the early 2000s. “I haven’t said anything for so long,” she said through tears.
Combs is currently at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn awaiting his May 2025 trial date after being arrested in September 2024. He is charged with sex trafficking, extortion and transportation for the purpose of prostitution. He has pleaded not guilty to all three charges. If convicted, he could face 15 years to life in prison.