‘The Fall of Diddy’: Insiders Reveal How Diddy’s Love for Jennifer Lopez and Kim Porter Took Very Different Paths
Investigation Discovery’s The Fall of Diddy interviews over a dozen former associates of Sean “Diddy” Combs, including his childhood friends, security guards, an ex-girlfriend, a driver, media associates, and a personal chef. Perhaps the most chilling theme of these interviews was the brutal honesty. Many of these people had everything to lose and nothing to gain from speaking out in the docuseries. This especially applies to their hot takes on Diddy’s relationships with women.
The first two episodes of The Fall of Diddy focus on Combs’ childhood and early years in entertainment. The docuseries covers his relationship with his mom, the fatal stampede at New York’s City College, Bad Boy’s peak, the 1999 nightclub shooting, and, of course, his romantic relationships. Diddy’s most high-profile love interests of the late ’90s included longtime partner Kim Porter and pop star sensation Jennifer Lopez. The former was on and off with the rapper from the mid-’90s to 2007. J.Lo and Combs dated from 1999 to 2001.
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ loved Kim Porter but ‘wanted’ Jennifer Lopez
Investigation Discovery’s interviews shine a light on Diddy’s behind-the-scenes infidelity and abuse. Former Revolt TV anchor Mara S. Campo explained, “Kim Porter, a woman he described as the love of his life and the mother of four of his children, witnesses his relationship with Jennifer Lopez just flood the media.” Many pop culture fans recall the firestorm that was Diddy and J.Lo’s high-profile relationship.
Combs’ childhood friend, Tim Patterson, recognized that Diddy would do anything to win over the “Let’s Get Loud” singer. “I was there at the beginning of the Jennifer days,” he explained. “Just like all of the other girls, Sean goes all the way to get you. Sean wanted J.Lo. and he got her.”
Diddy’s dating life: Kim Porter vs. Jennifer Lopez
In the docuseries, music journalist Dee Barnes described the vast differences between Combs’ relationships with Porter and Lopez. “When we talk about Kim and Sean, I don’t see them the way I saw Sean and J.Lo,” Barnes explains. “They would be at the same function but not together type thing. Not like him and Jennifer Lopez where you publicly see him at red carpet events.” Campo added, “So what we see is a man who claimed to love this woman more than any other woman but was not necessarily treated that way.”
Danyel Smith alleged, “I’ve seen him act around Kim in ways that were just awful and very mean.” The former VIBE editor-in-chief explained how she attended a last-minute girls’ night with Porter and some friends. “I see Puffy come into the club,” Smith explained. “I really thought he was coming in to kick it … Everything just turned on a dime. It was not a cool situation at all. He started hollering at her that she should be at home and not out. Then he grabbed her handbag and literally turned it upside down. He just emptied it out in front of everybody. I was so in shock.”
Smith shared her thoughts on the experience, saying, “The reason people do things like that is to shame you and make you feel small. To scare you. I never saw him put a hand on her, but as we know that’s not the only kind of abuse.”
That moment at the nightclub between Combs and Porter is a far cry from the rapper’s charges of sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy, and transportation to engage in prostitution. But it does show how easily Diddy could flip a switch.
Combs’ former bodyguard, Roger Bonds notes that Porter was in a “controlling situation.” He elaborated, “Puff felt like he could do whatever he wanted to do. Puff was definitely abusive toward Kim. I remember one time telling him I could understand you having a problem with one person. But when you have a problem with every woman you’re dealing with, then you got to look inside yourself.”
To learn more about The Fall of Diddy, you can watch all four episodes of the Investigation Discovery docuseries on Discovery+ and Max.
