A childhood friend of Sean "Diddy" Combs says in the Peacock documentary Diddy: The Making of a Bad Boy that the disgraced mogul's mother, Janice Combs, threw parties throughout his young life that "desensitized" him to sex.
Janice Combs did not respond to the documentary production's request for comment. Newsweek has contacted representatives for Sean Combs and Janice Combs by email for comment.
Peacock Releases Documentary, 'Diddy: Making of a Bad Boy'
Diddy: The Making of a Bad Boy hit Peacock on Tuesday. It includes interviews with dozens of people throughout Combs' life, including multiple childhood friends, professional colleagues, his former bodyguard, an intern, and a makeup artist for his former girlfriend Cassie Ventura.
Combs, 55, is in jail in Brooklyn, awaiting his May sex trafficking trial. He is also the subject of at least 30 lawsuits accusing him of sex crimes. Combs has denied all wrongdoing.
Peacock Documentary Sheds Light on Diddy's Mom, Childhood
Tim "Dawg" Patterson said he and his mother lived with Sean and Janice Combs in their Harlem home. Patterson said he thinks Combs' alleged troubles with sex "goes back to childhood."
"On the weekend, we partied in the house, and we did that a lot," Patterson said. "He was around all types of alcohol, he was around reefer smoke. Drug addicts around, lesbians around, homosexuals, he was around pimps, pushers. That was just who was in our house."
Patterson continued: "People that attended the parties were from Harlem, from the streets. At night, it wouldn't be a thing to mistakenly walk into one of the bedrooms and you got a couple in there, butt naked."
"That's what we were privy to. This is what we were fed. Was it desensitizing us? I'm sure it was. Were we aware of it? No, that was just Saturday night," Patterson said.
What People Are Saying
Dr. Carolyn West, a domestic violence and sex trafficking expert, in the doc: "If you grow up in a very sexualized environment, that's going to shape their sexual template in terms of what are appropriate boundaries and what's acceptable. When you have a lot of unresolved trauma, the trauma doesn't go away just because you have all that access to wealth and power and no guardrails. The trauma is there, still unresolved, and you just have more resources to do more damage with."
Combs' legal team to Newsweek in early January: "These documentaries include unchecked claims and provide platforms for baseless conspiracy theories without accountability or evidence. In the case of the Peacock documentary in particular, the motivations and credibility of those being interviewed must be questioned. Many claim to have knowledge but lack any connection to the truth, while their wild, unfounded theories are cut and sensationalized to appear factual."
What Happens Next
A separate docuseries, The Fall of Diddy, will premiere over two nights on ID Discovery, starting on January 27 at 9 p.m. Episodes will also be available to stream on Max.
Do you have a story Newsweek should be covering? Do you have any questions about this story? Contact LiveNews@newsweek.com
English (US) ·