Alleged Diddy victim Thalia Graves speaks publicly for first time
LOS ANGELES - Thalia Graves, an alleged victim of Sean "Diddy" Combs, spoke out publicly for the first time after filing a lawsuit against the disgraced music mogul.
According to the lawsuit filed Tuesday in New York federal court, Graves alleges Combs and his former security guard Joseph Sherman raped her inside the Bad Boy Records studio in Manhattan in 2001.
Graves, who was 25 at the time, claims she was given a drink "likely laced with a drug" in the studio, causing her to lose consciousness. That's when she woke up to "find herself bound and restrained" before Combs and Sherman allegedly "proceeded to brutally sexually abuse and violate her," the court filing states.
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Graves was violently beaten and "forcefully slammed onto a table," and forced to perform a sex act, the lawsuit alleges.
"Both men were undeterred by [Graves’] cries for help throughout the attack," according to the lawsuit.
"The internal pain after being sexually assaulted has been incredibly deep and hard to put into words," Graves said during a press conference in Los Angeles, alongside her lawyer Gloria Allred. "It goes beyond just the physical harm caused during the assault. It's a pain that reaches into the very core of who I am leaving emotional scars that may never fully heal."
In 2023, she learned a video of the alleged assault was being circulated and possibly distributed as pornography.
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The lawsuit asks a judge to issue an injunction ordering the video to be destroyed, and permanently barring further distribution. Graves is also seeking unspecified damages.
"Being blamed, questioned and threatened has oftentimes made me feel worthless, isolated and sometimes responsible for what has happened to me," Graves said.
"I am emotionally scarred," she said. "I’m glad that [Combs] is locked up but that is a temporary feeling of relief."
Gloria Allred and Thalia Grace during a press conference Tuesday after filing a lawsuit against Sean "Diddy" Combs in New York federal court on Tuesday. / FOX 11
Graves did not take any questions from reporters.
Combs, 54, is charged with federal sex trafficking and racketeering. The indictment, which details allegations dating back to 2009, accuses him of abusing, threatening and coercing women for years "to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct."
The Bad Boys Records founder was arrested in New York on Sept. 16. In the indictment, he's also accused of using his "power and prestige" to induce female victims and male sex workers in "freak offs."
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If convicted, Combs could face at least 15 years in prison.
On Tuesday, Combs was sent to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn — a place that’s been described as "hell on earth" and an "ongoing tragedy" — after pleading not guilty. It has also been home to many high-profile inmates, including R. Kelly, Ghislaine Maxwell and cryptocurrency fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried.
A judge on Wednesday denied a request by Combs’ lawyers to let him await trial under house arrest at his $48 million mansion on an island in Miami Beach, Florida.
Authorities claimed Diddy ran a criminal enterprise through his businesses, including Bad Boy Entertainment, Combs Enterprises and Combs Global, among others. He used "violence, use of firearms, threats of violence, coercion, and verbal, emotional, physical, and sexual abuse" to fulfill his sexual desires, according to the unsealed indictment.
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During raids on Diddy's homes in Los Angeles and Miami in March, authorities seized "freak off supplies" along with three AR-15s with defaced serial numbers, the court docs stated. The feds also took "cases and cases of the kinds of personal lubricant and baby oil that Diddy's staff allegedly used to stock hotel rooms for the freak offs, more than 1,000 bottles altogether," Williams said at a press conference.
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Most recently, a resurfaced video of Combs joking about his now infamous parties sees him make an ominous prediction about his future.
In the clip from Entertainment Tonight, recorded in 1999, Combs is being interviewed about his White Party being the hottest ticket in town.
"They won’t even give me a permit for the parties, man. They don’t want me to throw the parties no more," Combs tells the interviewer. "But we aint’ gonna stop. We’re going to keep on having fun, bringing people together from all walks of life."
Combs started the White Party in the Hamptons on Labor Day Weekend in 1998, with the last one happening in Los Angeles in 2009.
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Many famous names have been spotted at the event over the years, none of whom have been implicated in the criminal case.
FOX News and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
If you or someone you know is a victim of human trafficking, there is help available. Talk to highly trained anti-trafficking advocates at the National Human Trafficking Hotline by calling 1-888-373-7888, or by texting 233733.