Ventura told the jury Combs controlled a lot of her life, from her career to the way she dressed. “And it just didn’t feel like I had much say in it being super young, naïve, people-pleaser. I didn’t know if he would be upset enough to be violent or if he would write me off and not want to be with me at all,” Ventura testified.
If she refused Combs, Ventura said “it was always in the back of my mind that I would somehow be hurt.” Over time, she said “there were blackmail materials.”
“I think I was just really confused at the time, and young, new artist, just didn’t know the lay of the land when it came to things like that. In my confusion just kind of cried and ran off,” Ventura testified. “I just wasn’t familiar with having an executive or anybody pay attention to me or be that forward at that point. Pretty naïve, I would say.”
Though 17 years younger than Combs, Ventura said she “wanted to be around Sean for the same reasons as everyone else at the time. He’s just this exciting and entertaining fun guy that just also happened to have my career in his hands.”
