Content warning: This article contains graphic descriptions of sexual and physical assault. Please take care while reading.
Disturbing allegations against Sean “Diddy” Combs have emerged in a lawsuit filed by Thalia Graves. Graves’ lawsuit came as Diddy was already in custody in New York on federal sex trafficking, kidnapping, and racketeering charges. Graves’ suit is the 11th filed against the hip-hop star with similar accusations.
Graves says she was 25 in the early 2000s and dating an executive at Bad Boy Records, Diddy’s label, when Diddy and Joseph Sherman, his head of security, picked her up under the pretense of a business meeting regarding her boyfriend’s work performance. According to the AP, Graves’ lawsuit says she was given a drink that was likely drugged. According to Graves, she remembers arriving at Diddy’s offices, and then passing out on a couch.
When Graves woke up, she was naked and bound with her hands tied behind her back. Sherman and Diddy, who was in his 30s when the attack happened, then brutally sexually and physically assaulted her several times. Graves tried to call for help, but no one responded, and she lost consciousness again.
According to Graves, she told her then-boyfriend, a Diddy employee, about what happened, but he discouraged her from reporting the attack because it might negatively affect his career. She also says she chose not to report the crime to the police for fear of Diddy retaliation. According to Graves, she has lived with flashbacks, nightmares, and intrusive thoughts since it happened.
“It has been hard for me to trust others to form healthy relationships or even feel safe in my own skin,” Graves said at a press conference when her lawsuit was announced. She added, ”It’s a pain that reaches into the very core of who you are and leaves emotional scars that may never fully heal.”
Diddy allegedly videotaped Graves’ assaults
Thalia Graves’ allegations are similar to those detailed in 10 other Diddy lawsuits filed since Nov. 2023. One crucial difference, however, is that Graves says the powerful music executive videotaped her assaults and then sold the recording as pornography. Graves has asked for a jury trial and damages, and for the recording to be accounted for and destroyed. Graves’ lawsuit says she only learned of the tape’s existence last year.
Attorney Gloria Allred, Graves’ legal counsel in the case, is known for representing many women accusing famous men of sex crimes in high-profile cases, including Charlotte Lewis, who in 2010 accused film director Roman Polanski of sexual assault. In 2021, Allred also represented several women accusing R&B singer R Kelly of sexual assault.
It’s been widely reported that Diddy and Sherman’s representatives have not yet commented on Graves’ fresh allegations. Diddy was in custody when Graves’ lawsuit was filed. He pleaded not guilty in federal court to the charges thus far brought against him, was and denied bail twice. “I’m glad that he is locked up, but that’s a temporary feeling of relief,” Graves said, referring to Diddy at her lawsuit press conference.
In the aftermath of Diddy’s indictment, several celebrities have seemingly scrambled to hide or minimize their Diddy connections, including Usher, who wiped his X feed, claiming he was hacked. Usher lived with Diddy as a teenager. Justin Bieber, who also spent time with Diddy as a minor, as well as Ellen DeGeneres, Jennifer Lopez, and Ashton Kutcher are also rumored to have had knowledge of, or been implicated in Diddy’s crimes. If convicted, Diddy could spend the rest of his life in prison.
If you know someone suffering from sexual violence, contact RAINN or the National Sexual Abuse Telephone Hotline at 1-800-656-4673.
Published: Sep 25, 2024 01:36 pm