The 1 Question Diddy Refused to Answer When He Was Interviewed by Oprah in 2006
Sean “Diddy” Combs has been an open book throughout his career. In 2006, the rapper and record executive opened up to Oprah Winfrey about his life and his career in an expansive interview. But there was one question of Oprah’s that Diddy dodged.
Diddy wouldn’t answer Oprah’s question about his name
The conversation for O magazine started out simple enough, with Oprah asking how he got the name Puff Daddy.
“It’s a nickname somebody gave me,” Diddy answered. When asked what it means, he preferred not to go into details. “I’ve never told anyone that. I know you get people to tell you everything, Oprah. But I can’t look you in the eye and explain that one.”
She asked if they called him Puff because he was “puffed up,” to which he said that “It’s just a silly name.”
“I can see that you’re not going to tell me,” Oprah noted, to which Diddy replied plainly, “I’ll answer every other question.”
Diddy changed his name after his infamous nightclub shooting
In 1999, Diddy was charged with weapons possession and bribery after a shooting at a New York City nightclub. He was later acquitted of the charges, and declared afterward that he was changing his name.
“No more Puff Daddy — the first week in June we’re gonna have a name change ceremony,” he told MTV News in 2001. “I’m rockin’ with ‘P. Diddy’ now. My man Biggie gave me that name.” He later dropped the P and just went by Diddy to create a closer connection between him and his fans.
When reflecting on the trial in his Oprah interview, he admitted that it scared him into re-evaluating his whole life.
“It made me appreciate life more. As a young African-American male, you have to have your war face on at all times. But the trial humbled me,” he said. “They wanted to make an example of me. There are so many stereotypes about the rap world.”
He was sued over his Diddy name
After he started using the Diddy moniker, the Bad Boy Records founder was hit with a lawsuit from UK-based producer Richard “Diddy” Dearlove, who had been using the name Diddy professionally since 1992. “My lawyers and I were trying to convince the court there was confusion caused by two people trading under the same name,” Dearlove said at the time.
As a result, Combs couldn’t call himself “Diddy” in the UK. He agreed to a £100,000 settlement in September 2006 and went back to going by P. Diddy.
His name is Love now
In 2021, Diddy legally changed his name to Sean Love Combs and announced the new name on social media. He gave an interview with Vanity Fair talking about the new era, and how he was prioritizing love in his life.
“I’ve spent the last 10 years in and out of a dark place, struggling to find the meaning in everything happening to me and around me,” Combs said in an Instagram post of his Vanity Fair cover. “I stepped away from music, I moved across the country, and tried to escape the heartbreak I was feeling. I needed to get off the floor, get up and get closer to God! And really discover my reason for being here!”
