Sean Combs’ ex-girlfriend recounted a series of text messages she sent the mogul in 2023, in which she told him that the “freak-offs” were “desensitizing sex for me,” and, “I’m not an animal, I’m not a porn star.”
The witness, using the pseudonym “Jane,” returned to the stand Monday for her third day of testimony. Jane dated Combs between 2021 and 2024 and has said their relationship began as a whirlwind romance; but after she consented to her first freak-off a few months into their relationship, she likened it to opening up “a Pandora’s box” that she was unable to shut.
On Monday, Jane spoke about one of her attempts to put a pause on these highly choreographed sexual encounters with male escorts that could last upwards of two days straight. (While Combs often called these encounters “freak-offs,” Jane has referred to them as “hotel nights” and the escorts as “entertainers.”) In October 2023, Jane testified, Combs was asking her to arrange a hotel night, when she saw a photo of him with one of his ex-girlfriends on social media.
Jane said she was “furious” and texted Combs to arrange the encounter with his ex. Combs replied that Jane was “the only thing that’s going to put me at peace,” to which Jane said, “It’s not me, it’s the entertainment that puts you at peace.”
During the text conversation, Jane told Combs, “I don’t feel like performing loveless, cold sex.” She later said, “I need a break. I don’t want to do anything, I’ve hit a wall.” And, “It’s been three years of having to fuck strangers.”
Combs, in turn, promised Jane that they could spend a day together with “no strangers,” and that they didn’t have to have sex. But Jane was skeptical, texting him, per reports, “You beat the love out of us. You made it crystal clear exactly what you want me for. You’re going to spend the day … lovebombing me so you can get what you want? It’s not genuine. I’ve hit a mental and spiritual wall.”
Jane then told the court, “Whenever he wanted me or one of these nights, the lovebombing or persistency would start.”
Jane has been referred to as Victim-2 in the Southern District of New York’s sex trafficking and racketeering case against the hip-hop mogul. Combs has pleaded not guilty to the five felony counts against him.
In discussing her relationship with Combs, Jane said her decision to agree to her first freak-off with Combs led to regular encounters in Miami, Los Angeles, New York, and Turks and Caicos. Although Jane tried telling Combs that she no longer wished to have sex with other men, he would allegedly threaten to break up with her and cut off his financial support. The couple’s relationship only ended when Combs was arrested in September 2024.
“One night of fun turned into the entirety of our relationship, and now it’s all I’m expected to do and get called for,” Jane texted Combs in September 2023. “It’s hurting me because I’m so much more than being loved in the dark in hotel rooms, doing things that make me feel disgusted with myself … I don’t want you to play this role — I don’t want to play this role in your life anymore. It’s dark, sleazy, and makes me feel disgusted with myself. I feel it’s the only reason you have me around and why you pay for the house. I don’t want to feel obligated to perform these nights with you in fear of losing the roof over my head.”
Combs’ response was short. “Girl, stop,” he wrote.
Prosecutors said they consider Jane a victim of sex trafficking by fraud. (Casandra “Cassie” Ventura was allegedly sex trafficked by physical force and coercion.) The single mother said she was desperate for one-on-one time with Combs and claimed that Combs would dangle the carrot of spending quality time together after freak-offs, which would rarely materialize.
Jane said the first time she cried after a freak-off was when Combs tried to leave her alone in a hotel room following an intense 18-hour session after promising her alone time. “I just remember it was like three rounds with this guy, and like, at the very end, I just remember Sean saying he had to leave,” Jane said. “I was so high and just feeling so lonely and sad. I didn’t want him to leave me like that, feeling like that. And I just started crying.”
What Jane knew as “hotel nights” were strikingly similar to the freak-offs that Ventura said she was forced into throughout her decade-long relationship with Combs. The nights would typically follow the same routine, both women said. Music pulsed in the background of the hotel suite, which was decorated with white candles and mood lighting. Sheets and towels covered the furniture in preparation for the numerous bottles of baby oil the trio would go through.
Combs allegedly expected the women to take ecstasy, dress in provocative lingerie, and wear towering stripper heels as they seduced a male sex worker by pouring baby oil over their bodies until they glistened. Combs would allegedly give instructions to the women on when they should advance to the next phase of the highly choreographed sexual encounter.
Sometimes, the women were expected to go through multiple “rounds” or “sessions” with the one male escort. Other times, a second or third man could be called as the evening and next day stretched on.
Last week, Jane cried throughout her testimony, leaving the witness box in tears after recounting a seemingly never-ending freak-off during what was supposed to be a romantic, one-on-one birthday celebration with Combs in 2023. Instead, for “hours and hours,” Jane allegedly was expected to have sex with three men Combs had brought to the hotel suite.
Throughout her testimony, Jane discussed the various ways Combs and his staff allegedly coerced or forced her into doing things she was not comfortable with — a dynamic that’s at the heart of the state’s case against Combs. Along with her participation in the hotel nights, this also included, Jane testified, instances where she was asked to fly with drugs for Combs. If she didn’t return Combs’ calls, Jane said she’d receive incessant calls from members of his team.
Prosecutors previously claimed Combs’ manipulation of Jane went beyond financial control into threats and physical violence. They’ve said Combs busted down doors to get to Jane, dragged her by her hair, and kicked her while she was curled up in a ball on the ground. (Ventura previously testified that Combs used threats and physical violence to coerce her into hundreds of freak-offs during their 11-year relationship that ended for good in 2018.)
“The defendant continued asking Jane to have freak-offs and promising that if she did, they would spend quality time together, they would go on dates together, they would go on trips,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Johnson said on the first day of Combs’ trial last month. “That was what Jane wanted more than anything, a real relationship … But even though the defendant promised her quality time and trips, he never delivered. Those were just lies he told her to get more nights in dark hotel rooms with escorts.”
Prosecutors have indicated they only began speaking with Jane in January, after they uncovered text messages she sent Combs in the days after Ventura’s lawsuit was filed in November 2023. “It makes me sick how three solid pages, word for word, is exactly my experiences and my anguish,” she texted Combs. Combs allegedly responded by gaslighting Jane and making a vague reference to her financial support, so their dating relationship continued into 2024, prosecutors said.
In the defense’s dueling opening statement, Combs’ lawyer, Teny Geragos, sought to set Jane apart from Ventura. She told jurors that by the time Combs started seeing Jane, “he was more upfront about his dating life,” including the fact that he was dating multiple women. Geragos said Jane also was older and more mature than Ventura, “living her own life in a different state raising her child.”
Geragos said that after Jane’s first experience with a freak-off, “she began to do everything possible to make these nights incredible for Combs.” Geragos suggested Jane “made the choice” to engage in freak-offs “out of love.”
More than two dozen witnesses already have testified at Combs’ trial, which is now in its fifth week. Prosecutors have called multiple former assistants, alleged male escorts, and even Scott Mescudi, the musician and actor known as Kid Cudi, to support their allegations Combs used his wealth, influence, and inner circle to carry out crimes aimed at fulfilling his sexual desires and protecting his reputation.
