Names and faces
■ Sean “Diddy” Combs was accused in a lawsuit of subjecting R&B singer Cassie to a yearslong relationship that included beatings and rape. Cassie, whose legal name is Casandra Ventura, alleged in the suit filed Thursday against the producer and music mogul in New York federal court that Combs brought her into his “ostentatious, fast-paced, and drug-fueled lifestyle” not long after she met him and signed to his label when she was 19 and he was 37 in 2005. Attorney Ben Brafman said Combs “vehemently denies” the allegations. Ventura, now 37, said Combs, 54, began the pattern of abuse at the start of their relationship. The suit claims that Combs, “prone to uncontrollable rage,” subjected her to “savage” beating. It alleges he plied her with drugs, and forced her to have sex with other men while he touched himself and filmed them. The suit states as she was trying to end the relationship in 2018, Combs forced her into her Los Angeles home and raped her. Brafman called the allegations “lies.” “For the past six months, Mr. Combs has been subjected to Ms. Ventura’s persistent demand of $30 million, under the threat of writing a damaging book about their relationship, which was unequivocally rejected as blatant blackmail,” he said in a statement. “Despite withdrawing her initial threat, Ms. Ventura has now resorted to filing a lawsuit riddled with baseless and outrageous lies, aiming to tarnish Mr. Combs’s reputation and seeking a payday.” Ventura’s lawyer Douglas Wigdor responded in a statement that Combs offered her “eight figures to silence her and prevent the filing of this lawsuit.”
■ Billie Eilish obtained a restraining order against a man who’s been stalking her and threatening her friends and family. In legal documents obtained by The Los Angeles Times, Eilish stated that Shawn McIntyre, 53, has been sending hundreds of messages via social media to her and her family since September. The messages to Eilish, her close family friend, Zoe Donahoe, and her mother, Maggie May Baird, contained “disturbing professions of love to me and other disturbing, violent threats against my brother Finneas Baird O’Connell.” The singer said she’s suffered substantial anxiety, fear and emotional distress over her personal safety and the safety of her family and friends. Eilish also said she had hired a 24-hour security detail due to the threats. She requested that a judge grant the restraining order requiring McIntyre to cease any contact and to stay at least 100 yards away from her, her family and Donahoe. It was unclear if McIntyre had legal representation and The Los Angeles Times was unable to contact him.