Sean 'Diddy' Combs trial updates: Cassie Ventura breaks down as testimony concludes

Cassie Ventura, through a statement read by her attorney Douglas Wigdor outside court, thanked her supporters for their kindness and vowed to never forget what she says Sean Combs did to her.

"I hope that my testimony has given strength and a voice to other survivors and can help others who have suffered to speak up and also heal from abuse and fear. For me, the more I heal, the more I can remember, and the more I can remember, the more I will never forget," she said in a statement.

Her husband Alex Fine, in a statement read by Wigdor, commended Ventura for her bravery testifying for four days in front of "a person who tried to break her."

"So to him and all of those who helped him along the way, please know this: You did not break her spirit nor her smile that lights up every room. You did not break the souls of her mother, who gives the best hugs and plays the silliest games with our little girls," Fine said in the statement, calling Combs a "demon."

He also rejected the notion that he was the one who helped Ventura escape Combs, saying such a suggestion is an "insult to the years of painful work my wife has done to save herself."

"Cassie saved Cassie. She alone broke free from abuse, coercion, violence and threats. She did the work of fighting the demons that only a demon himself could have done to her. All I have done is love her as she has loved me. Her life is now surrounded by love, laughter and our family. This horrific chapter is forever put behind us," he said.

-- ABC News' Peter Charalambous

After four days on the witness stand, Cassie Ventura concluded her testimony Friday at the trial of her ex-boyfriend, Sean Combs.

On re-cross-examination, defense attorney Anna Estevao questioned whether Combs coerced Ventura into sexual activity as alleged, confronting her for a second time with some of her explicit text exchanges with Combs.

“You are actively participating in this sexting?” Estevao asked. “Mm hm,” Ventura responded.

Ventura also testified that she had reached the end of settlement discussions with the InterContinental Hotel, where she appeared on the 2016 video of Combs attacking her, and expected to receive $10 million, the first time the figure has been publicly revealed. She confirmed settlement negotiations concluded shortly before her testimony.

Prosecutor Emily Johnson asked Ventura, “Do you have any financial stake in the outcome of this trial?” Ventura responded quickly, “Absolutely not.”

After Ventura compared being Combs’ girlfriend to being “basically a sex worker” in prior testimony, Estevao on re-cross-examination highlighted what the defense argued were benefits of the relationship.

“Stand by his side at the Met Gala and premieres?” Estevao asked. “Yup,” Ventura answered.

“You were given opportunities in terms of your ability to access contacts in the entertainment industry?” Estevao asked. “Sometimes given but also earned,” Ventura responded.

On re-direct examination, prosecutors returned to an expletive-filled recording of Cassie Ventura, first played by the defense during cross-examination, during which she appeared to threaten to "kill" a man called Sugit who said he had seen a sexually explicit video of her.

"I was just sick about it and was feeling pressure from Sean," Ventura testified, referring to her reaction on the recording.

"Who directed you to talk to Sugit?" prosecutor Emily Johnson asked. "Sean," Ventura responded.

Ventura testified about a time on a flight home from France when she said Combs showed her a video of a "freak off" he had recorded on his phone.

"He said he was going to release the tape to embarrass me," Ventura testified.

Upon landing in New York, Ventura said there was a "freak off." She said she didn't want to partake in it but "feared he would release the video."

After maintaining her composure during the entirety of cross-examination, Cassie Ventura broke down in a loud sob when the prosecution asked whether Sean Combs beat her during "freak offs."

"Yes," she testified, then sobbed loudly.

"How did you feel during 'freak offs' when Sean beat you?" prosecutor Emily Johnson asked. "Worthless, just like dirt, that I didn't matter to him, like I was nothing," Ventura testified.

The tears began when Johnson asked whether she would give back the $20 million she received as part of her 2023 civil settlement with Combs if it meant not having to have ever participated in a "freak off."

"I'd give that money back if I never had to do 'freak offs.' I would have agency and autonomy," she said through tears. She reached for a tissue and dabbed her eyes. "I wouldn't have had to work so hard to get it back."

Redirect examination has concluded, as re-cross-examination starts now.

After the defense pointed to what they argued were benefits Cassie Ventura received during her relationship with Combs, Ventura said under re-direct examination her music career suffered.

“I had to give him all of my attention and made the choice to listen to him because he was the person that was running everything,” Ventura testified. “When I wasn’t working I was his girlfriend.”

Prosecutors suggested she did not have the kind of agency the defense argued.

Ventura said she could not work on herself because she had another job.

“What was that job?” prosecutor Emily Johnson asked. “Basically a sex worker,” Ventura responded, prompting a sustained objection from the defense.

After the defense tried to depict Ventura as a willing participant in so-called "freak offs," Ventura suggested she did not want to have sex with male prostitutes.

“Throughout your entire 11-year relationship with Sean, who did you want to have sex with?” Johnson asked. “I wanted to have sex just with him,” Ventura said.