Awkward moment Cassie name-drops Whitney Houston, quips at Diddy lawyer when asked about ‘rehab,’ drug overdose bombshell
Cassie Ventura’s marathon testimony grew tenser Thursday when she was grilled about a supposed rehab facility she considering going to during 2017 and her and Sean “Diddy” Combs’ past drug use.
The R&B singer, who is eight months pregnant, spent hours fielding invasive questions and insinuations from Combs’ lawyer Anna Estevao about sexually explicit texts, infidelities and her drug use.
She largely maintained her composure, but her answers grew shorter and shorter as the day dragged on — leading to a tense exchange when Estevao implied the 4-star Golden Door resort in San Marcos was a drug treatment facility.
“It’s not a rehab facility, but yeah. It’s like a spa,” Ventura, 38, told the defense attorney. “Yeah, I come to find out, yeah.”
Estevao had been pressing Ventura about her drug use with Combs — a key component of alleged predatory sex romps he called “freak-offs.”
Ventura and Combs had called each other “get high partners,” she testified.
“Part of the reason you wanted to participate in the ‘freak-offs’ was to have your time with him? It was a special time with him you cherished?” Estevao asked.
“Yes,” Ventura replied, repeating the one-word answer when Estevao then asked, “It was a time to connect with him?”
“Did you ever call each other ‘get high partners’?” she continued, to which Ventura also replied, “Yes.”
Estevao then noted there were periods when Combs didn’t approve of Ventura using drugs, including opiaites.
Ventura has previously testified that drugs were a big part of the twisted “freak-offs” Combs allegedly coerced her to partake in — recalling one terrifying incident where she woke up naked in the shower after ingesting date rape drug GHB during one of the sick sex sessions.
She said she developed an “on-again off-again” opioid addiction, relying on the pills to help her feel “numb” after taking part in the “freak-offs.”
Ventura admitted that she once went to a rehab in Sedona, Arizona in 2017, but it didn’t stick.
After she left the rehab, she took part in another “freak-off” with Combs, she said.
Combs also struggled with drug abuse — as revealed in vivid detail when Estevao asked Ventura if she remembered the night he overdosed on opiates in February 2012.
“Was that around the time Whitney Houston died? I believe so,” Ventura replied.
“That evening, we had a ‘freak-off.’ We went to a sex club in San Bernardino. And then he had a party at the Playboy Mansion that night, and I went home.”
She later said: “From what he told me, he took a really strong opioid that night. But we didn’t know what happened, so we took him to the hospital.”
Combs’ lawyer later asked: “During the entire duration of your relationship, you two were addicted to painkillers?”
“Very much so,” Ventura replied.
While Ventura mostly maintained a cordial attitude while under cross-examination, her answers became more clipped.
At one point, when Estaveo implied that Ventura was Combs’ number-two woman, after his baby mama Kim Porter, Ventura offered a very quick response, muttering “mhmm.”
At another point, Ventura suggested the jury wasn’t hearing the full context of the messages between her and Combs.
“This isn’t what I feel is relevant right now,” Ventura said. “There’s a lot we skipped over.”
Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to a slew of charges — from sex trafficking to racketeering conspiracy — that carry a potential life sentenced, if he’s convicted.
