Sean “Diddy” Combs and his mother Janice would often throw wild parties at the future music mogul's childhood home, where it was not uncommon to walk into a room and find adults engaged in sexual intercourse. That's what a childhood friend of Combs said in a new documentary, Diddy: The Making of a Bad Boywhich debuts on Peacock on January 14. The preview was given by Rolling Stone US.
“This is what we were exposed to; this is what was transmitted to us,” says hip-hop producer Tim “Dawg” Patterson in the film. «Was he desensitizing us? I'm sure yes. Were we aware of it? No, it was simply Saturday night.”
The documentary explores Combs' childhood and adolescence, through interviews with childhood friends from Mount Vernon (the suburb on the edge of Upper Manhattan where Combs grew up), former colleagues at Uptown Records and Ron “Amen-Ra” Lawrence, fellow student at Howard University and later music producer for the Hit Men.
“They always asked me 'why',” Patterson continues. “I don't know the answer, but I firmly believe it all goes back to childhood.” The details about the alleged parties continue: things were always happening at Combs' house. During the weekend, [Diddy] he celebrated at home, and we did so often. He was surrounded by all kinds of alcohol, marijuana smoke. Around him there were drug addicts, lesbians, homosexuals, he was surrounded by pimps, drug dealers. They were simply the people who frequented the house. Those who attended the parties came from Harlem, from the streets. It wasn't unusual to accidentally walk into a room and find a couple completely naked.”
In the past, Diddy has spoken about his early sexual experiences in terms that might fit Patterson's account. In 1999 he declared a Vibe that he was introduced to porn at an early age and lost his virginity at 12 – an act in which he replicated the “moves” seen in the hardcore films he consumed. «I behaved like porn stars, I slapped girls' asses. I didn't do it alone, they wanted it. I would reshoot them because I had seen it in the movies, and then they would ask me to do it again.”
According to Patterson, and if what he says were true, exposure to acts of this type would justify (without excusing) the fact that Combs, as an adult, wanted to replicate the behaviors experienced in childhood. The 55-year-old Diddy is currently the subject of nearly 40 civil lawsuits filed by men and women who say they were abused by him between 1990 and 2024.
There are also three criminal charges, for which the record producer and record producer has declared himself innocent. Combs' legal team has adamantly denied the claims made against him in the civil suits. “Mr. Combs has never sexually assaulted or subjected anyone to sex trafficking — man or woman, adult or minor.”
Representatives for Sean and Janice Combs did not immediately respond to requests for comment Rolling Stone US. Since his arrest in September 2024, Diddy has been held in a Manhattan jail without the possibility of bail, awaiting trial this May.
