A Look Back At Kim Porter's Romance With Sean 'Diddy' Combs
Music producer Sean "Diddy" Combs has had several high-profile relationships with well-known women over the years, including model Kim Porter, with whom he shared three children. Their on-again-off-again romance began in 1994. Porter was already a mother to her son Quincy with R&B singer Al B. Sure, while Combs had his own son, Justin, with stylist Misa Hylton-Brim when they first met. The couple welcomed their son, Christian, in 1998 and frequently appeared at red-carpet events in the subsequent years before breaking up for one of the first times in 1999.
Years later, in 2003, Porter and Combs rekindled their relationship and welcomed their twin daughters, D'Lila Star, and Jessie James, in December 2006. Things looked promising for the celebrity couple, with them even appearing on the cover of Essence magazine together shortly before their adorable daughters arrived. During their cover story, Combs praised the "Brothers" star, gushing, "She's my muse. You know how they say it in the movies? It's corny but beautiful: She completes me." Still, in that same chat, he also confirmed that he didn't intend to marry Porter.
As the hip-hop mogul reasoned at the time, "I know she deserves to get married, but I'm just not ready." Unfortunately, their relationship bliss didn't last long, with the couple calling it quits again just a year later following an act of infidelity, which would not be the first nor only time either.
Porter was bombarded with Diddy's public cheating scandals
The first publicized cheating scandal arrived in 1998 when Sean "Diddy" Combs began dating Jennifer Lopez despite the fact he was still shacked up with Kim Porter. When she learned of their relationship, Porter ordered her children's father out of their shared home. However, the Bad Boy founder continued trying to get the model back, something she acknowledged during their joint interview with Essence, revealing, "He was still in love with me." Lopez and Diddy ended things for good in 2001, with the singer suggesting that he cheated on her too. In the years that followed, Combs and Porter moved beyond his betrayal, though they were soon rocked by another.
Shortly before she gave birth to their twins, a friend informed Porter that Combs had secretly welcomed a child with another woman, Sarah Chapman. Speaking with Essence for a solo interview, in 2007, Porter recalled that the Revolt TV creator didn't initially tell her about his new baby despite them being together. "I would have preferred to find out from him because that's a man," she admitted (via People), later adding, "Still, there's a right and a wrong way to handle it. Because, most of all, we were friends. Even if I couldn't have understood it as a woman, I would have understood it as a friend." Porter dumped Combs for the final time after this revelation.
Their relationship may have also involved physical abuse
Following their final breakup, Sean "Diddy" Combs entered another long-term relationship with Cassandra "Cassie" Ventura, which lasted from 2007 to 2018. He and Kim Porter maintained a solid co-parenting relationship, with her embracing all of his children and even Ventura. The model's untimely death, in November 2018, from pneumonia prompted heartfelt tributes from the "Me & U" singer and Misa Hylton-Brim, the mother of Combs' eldest son, Justin. While Combs also appeared devastated over the news, years later, an insider alleged that Porter was the victim of domestic violence at the hands of her ex-partner.
When Ventura sued the music mogul in November 2023 for sexual assault and physical abuse, several people began speaking out about her having a similar experience. Former Bad Boy Records musician Mark Curry told "The Art of Dialogue" the month after the lawsuit was filed that Combs had broken Porter's nose. He also claimed the wealthy businessman wiretapped Porter's home to monitor her more closely. Weeks before Ventura's lawsuit shook the internet, Combs's former security guard, Gene Deal, also sat down with the same outlet and shared a story about the model being forced to defend herself against Combs.
"He wanted to, you know, put his hands on her in the wrong way. And Kim took one of those corkscrews and ripped his wrists up," Deal alleged. Porter didn't allude to any incidents of physical violence when she was alive, though details such as these paint a picture of a volatile romance between the two.
If you or someone you know is dealing with domestic abuse, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233. You can also find more information, resources, and support at their website.