After days of graphic, emotional courtroom testimony from Cassie Ventura detailing alleged years of abuse by Sean “Diddy” Combs, her husband Alex Fine has broken his silence—and made it clear who he stands with.
Fine, 32, issued a powerful statement Friday (May 16) as the high-profile federal trial against Combs wrapped up its first week in a Manhattan courtroom.
Speaking directly to his wife’s accused abuser, Fine had one message: You failed.
“You did not break her spirit nor her smile that lights up every room,” he said.
“Cassie saved Cassie”
Alex Fine and Cassie Ventura met in 2018, around the same time her relationship with Combs ended. They married in 2019 and are now parents to two daughters, with a third child on the way.
Ventura is currently eight and a half months pregnant and has spent the last week on the witness stand, sharing harrowing allegations regarding her 11-year relationship with Combs.
Fine, who has sat in the courtroom through his wife’s testimony, addressed the pain of witnessing it all.
“I have felt so many things sitting there. I have felt tremendous pride and overwhelming love for Cass. I have felt profound anger that she has been subjected to sitting in front of a person who tried to break her," he said in his statement, per PEOPLE.
And while some have credited Fine with helping Cassie escape her past, he made it clear that the credit belongs entirely to her.
“I did not save Cassie, as some have said. To say that is an insult to the years of painful work my wife has done to save herself. Cassie saved Cassie,” he said. “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.”
'You did not break the soul of a mother'
Fine has long been vocal about his support for Ventura, from social media posts to public gestures. In 2019, he ran a marathon for domestic violence awareness. After CNN published surveillance footage of Combs assaulting Ventura in a hotel lobby, Fine posted: “Men who hit women aren't men.”
On Friday, he doubled down on that support.
“You did not break the soul of a mother who gives the best hugs and plays the silliest games with our little girls. You did not break the woman who has made me a better man," he said.
He ended his statement by saying this would be the only public comment he or his family would make at this time.
Inside the courtroom: Cassie's testimony
Ventura’s courtroom testimony described a disturbing relationship that began in 2005, when she signed to Combs’ Bad Boy Records, and ended in 2018. She described their early dynamic as “fast, fast-paced, scary,” but initially intoxicating.
However, she testified that the relationship quickly descended into years of sexual coercion, violence, manipulation, and blackmail. At the center of her allegations were what have been referred to as “freak offs” — drug-fueled sexual encounters involving escorts, often recorded, allegedly without her consent.
She told the jury these encounters left her feeling “dirty and grimy,” and caused ongoing health issues including infections, mouth sores, and gastrointestinal problems. “It was a mess,” she said.
Ventura admitted to relying on drugs like ketamine, marijuana, mushrooms, and opiates to get through the encounters. “I couldn’t imagine myself doing any of that without having some sort of buffer,” she said. “I had an addiction to opiates, so I would take pills to come down. I wanted to feel numb and not know what was going on in my mind.”
“I felt trapped”
One of the most chilling parts of Ventura’s testimony described an incident on a commercial flight in 2013, where she said she saw Combs watching old “freak off” footage on his laptop.
“He was showing them with other people around. I said, ‘You are embarrassing me.’ I was scared, I felt trapped, how do you get out of this situation? I felt trapped," she told the court.
She testified that Combs would threaten to release the footage whenever she displeased him or tried to leave. “That he was going to embarrass me and release them,” she said. “It could ruin everything I worked for, make me look like a slut. I wasn't supposed to be on those videos. I didn't want to be in them.”
When an explicit video of her leaked in 2014, she testified: “Immediately my thoughts went to a ‘Freak Off’ video.” She said Combs told her to find out everything she could about the footage, including details of the room where it was recorded.
“It was too much”
Ventura detailed how she was tasked with recruiting male escorts from sites like Craigslist and Backpage, and present their photos to Combs for approval. Escorts were paid between $1,500 and $6,000 per session, with travel sometimes coordinated under the pretense they were “new staff members.”
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She said Combs once ordered an escort to urinate on her during a session — and then did it himself. “It was too much. I choked, I didn’t want to be doing that, I was in a position I couldn’t easily get out of. I eventually put my hands up and Sean saw and told him to stop," she told the court.
Asked why she didn’t say no outright, she replied: “I was squeamish immediately, but high in the moment. That’s about it, you don't have a lot of control at that moment.” She also claimed that she started taking a number of drugs in order to make it through the "freak offs".
Throughout her testimony, Ventura emphasized her desire to survive and reclaim her life. “What’s right is right and what’s wrong is wrong. People aren't disposable,” she said.
Her final words from the stand came through a statement read by her attorney: “This week has been extremely challenging, but also remarkably empowering and healing for me. I hope that my testimony has given strength and a voice to other survivors.”
“For me, the more I heal, the more I can remember. And the more I can remember, the more I will never forget," her statement read.
If you or somebody you know has been affected by any of the issues in this article, please contact The National Sexual Assault Hotline on 800.656.HOPE (4673), available 24/7. Or you can chat online via online.rainn.org.