Sean “Diddy” Combs called Kim Porter‘s sudden death a “nightmare” he couldn’t wake up from.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do without you baby. I miss you so much,” he captioned an Instagram post honoring Porter, three days after her Nov. 15, 2018, death from pneumonia at the age of 47. In an effort to “explain our unexplainable relationship,” he continued, “We were more than best friends, we were more than soulmates. WE WERE SOME OTHER S–T!! And I miss you so much. Super Black Love.”
Never mind that they hadn’t been a couple for a decade. But over the 25 years they had been in each othe’rs lives they made a big blended family, including her son Quincy Brown, Combs’ son Justin Combs, and the kids they had together, son Christian Combs and twin daughters D’Lila Star Combs and Jessie James Combs.
And D’Lila and Jessie’s Mother’s Day tribute this year was a reminder that Porter is irreplaceable.
“You were the best mommy anyone could’ve ever had and we are so blessed that god chose you to be our mommy,” the 18-year-olds wrote May 11 on Instagram. “We miss you so very much every single day and we wish you could be here with us today. These last couple years have been sooooo extremely difficult without you by our side.”
The following day, a jury was seated and testimony got underway in their father’s criminal trial. Combs, who’s been in jail since September, has pleaded not guilty to racketeering conspiracy and two counts apiece of sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution.
While prosecutors have accused the 55-year-old Bad Boy Entertainment founder of presiding over a criminal enterprise that required the assistance and complacency of numerous unnamed associates, the center of the prosecution’s case is his alleged abuse of longtime girlfriend Cassie Ventura and other unnamed accusers. (Combs’ attorneys said in court that he’s guilty of domestic violence against Ventura but have maintained that all sexual activity she and the other accusers engaged in was consensual.)
Porter never accused Combs of abuse, but she readily alluded to the other things she dealt with until she decided she was done. For instance, their twins were born in December 2006, five months after Combs welcomed daughter Chance Combs with Sarah Chapman.
And Ventura, who’s pregnant with her and husband Alex Fine‘s third child, testified during Combs’ trial May 13 that she and Porter also overlapped on his romance timeline.
“We started to spend more time together,” the 38-year-old, who released her debut album Cassie through Bad Boy in 2006, said on the stand. “We were spending a lot of time together one on one—it was not public for many years. He just didn’t want it to look bad, but also knew it was because of his children and personal things, like his family.”
Ventura and Combs were rumored to be a couple for years before confirming as much in 2012. They broke up for good in 2018.
“It’s not an original script. He’s not the first man who’s cheated,” Porter told Essence.com in September 2007, two months after she broke up with Combs. “He’s not the first man who’s had a baby outside of his relationship. He’s not the originator of this. But at this point in my life—I have girls now—it’s a different program.”
Ultimately, she explained, “I wasn’t waking up feeling happy. There’s no other way for me to articulate it, other than a feeling. I just wasn’t feeling it, that’s why I had to leave.”
And when she did, she left a big blank space in her wake.
“I wanted to be dramatic,” Porter said. “I wanted him to know I wasn’t breaking up with him for two weeks—or maybe leaving for two days. If I pack up everything—twins and all—it means I’m out! Puffy’s an action person, not a talk person. So I had to have an action. Telling him, ‘Babe, I’m leaving,’ was not gonna do it.”
What did it was Porter not just emptying her closet, but also taking the furniture, the cars and everything else she felt was rightfully hers out of the house while Combs was out of town.
Of the timing, she noted, “You think he would have let me walk out the door? He wouldn’t have wanted me to go.”
And it wasn’t only because he’d fathered a child outside of their relationship, but that certainly didn’t make her want to stay. “I left because at this point in my life I want something different for myself,” Porter said. “I invested 10 years, I have children, and I’ve always stood by him. But now it’s time for me and what I want to do for Kim.”
And in the meantime, she added, there was “no ill feeling or ‘I can’t stand you, I hate you, don’t call.’ There’s none of that. We have three children together so that’s just not an option. We’re committed to our children even if we couldn’t commit to each other.”
Porter was in attendance with Justin, Quincy, D’Lila, Jessie and Christian when Combs got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2008 and the exes did remain close for the rest of her life.
Not that she forgave and forgot immediately.
“That betrayal really affected Kim,” Combs reflected to Essence in 2019. “There were days I thought I may have lost my best friend. The healing took time.”
When he and Porter talked in the years following the end of their romantic relationship, “it was about the kids,” Combs told the publication, reflecting on how he “jumped into mommy mode” after her death. “It was what she cared about the most. We’d check in as friends, of course, but we never had a conversation that didn’t include the kids. It was like some superhero sh–t. I ain’t even gonna lie. On some level I knew she was training me for this. I knew that I had to be ready to do whatever I was supposed to do if something like this ever happened.”
According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, Porter complained of a sore throat on Nov. 7, 2018, and by Nov. 12 she had developed a fever of 102 degrees. She tested negative for influenza and strep, per the coroner’s statement, and was treated with antibiotics, vitamins and the painkiller Toradol.
Her temperature had returned to normal Nov. 14, the coroner said, and that night she had a deep-tissue massage and watched movies with her family before going to bed at 11:30 p.m.
Porter’s god-daughter saw her in bed at 8:30 a.m. the next day but assumed she was sleeping, the coroner continued. Her family didn’t realize anything was amiss for several hours and called 911 at 11:30 a.m. Her cause of death was determined to be labar pneumonia.
“She was unforgettable,” Combs told Essence. “That day turned my world upside down. Three days before she passed, she wasn’t feeling well. She had the flu, and she sent the kids over to my house so they wouldn’t get sick. One night I was checking on her, and she was like, ‘Puffy, take care of my babies.’ She actually said that to me before she died.”
When he got the news, he said, he immediately tried to track down all of his kids so no one would hear about Porter from the news or social media.
“I had to get to the girls’ school and find Quincy, who was on set in Atlanta,” Combs recalled. “Christian was on a plane, and I had his phone disconnected so he wouldn’t read it in the air.”
Porter was laid to rest in her hometown of Columbus, Ga., Combs arranging for her golden casket to be transported to the church by horse-drawn carriage.
“As time went on, our relationship took so many different changes, from being boyfriend and girlfriend to being lovers to being best friends,” Combs said in his eulogy. “Somebody that you know you can count on, somebody that has your back, you have their back.”
He added, “To my kids, Justin, Christian, D’Lila, Jesse, Chance, the other man in the house, Quincy: I pledge in front of everybody right now that I will always be there for you I will always take care of you.”
And the squad he shared with Porter has been fiercely protective of her legacy. Quincy, Christian and the twins joined forces last September to slam a report about a posthumous memoir being published.
“Claims that our mom wrote a book are simply untrue. She did not,” the siblings wrote in a Sept. 24 Instagram post. “And anyone claiming to have a manuscript is misrepresenting themselves.”
They continued, “Please understand that any so-called ‘friend’ speaking on behalf of our mom or her family is not a friend. Nor do they have her best interests at heart.”
They also sought to quash renewed speculation that Porter did not die of natural causes.
“While it has been incredibly difficult to reconcile how she could be taken from us too soon, the cause of her death has long been established,” her kids wrote. “There was no foul play. We are deeply saddened that the world has made a spectacle of what has been the most tragic event of our lives. Our mother should be remembered for the beautiful, strong, kind and loving woman she was. Her memory should not be tainted by horrific conspiracy theories.”
Along with their grandmother Janice Combs, Quincy, Justin, Christian, Chance, D’Lila and Jessie were all in court May 12 to support their father. His six grown kids (he shares daughter Love, 2, with Dana Tran) also spoke out on his behalf in October.
“The past month has devastated our family,” they wrote in a post shared to Quincy’s Instagram a month after Combs was indicted and remanded into custody. “Many have judged both him and us based on accusations, conspiracy theories, and false narratives that have spiraled into absurdity on social media.”
“We stand united, supporting you every step of the way,” they continued. “We hold onto the truth, knowing it will prevail, and nothing will break the strength of our family. WE MISS YOU & LOVE YOU DAD.”
Back in 2019, Combs credited Porter with making him the father he had become, and he and the kids were all there for each other as they grieved their loss.
“Kim was about love, and all of that care she gave to us every day, we just came together,” he told Essence. “It really made me proud that even though I didn’t get married, Kim and I, along with the other mothers of my children, raised a great family. We have a great family. The way we’re handling it is together.”
See where everyone fits on Combs’ family tree:
Quincy Brown
Diddy adopted Quincy—whose parents are Al B. Sure! and the late Kim Porter—in the late ’90s while dating Kim.
Quincy has followed in his dad’s musical footsteps by dropping songs like “Friends First” with French Montana and, more recently, tracks “On Your Time” and “Day & Night.”
“I think I’ve been a sponge, and now I do so much,” Quincy, who also acts, told People in 2023 about watching Diddy work. “Just seeing how he’s able to handle and juggle all these things, I took that from him as my most major takeaway.”
Justin Dior Combs
If Diddy and Misa Hylton‘s son looks familiar that’s because you remember him from the 2010 episode of My Super Sweet 16. (Yes, Nicki Minaj did attend his celebration.)
Since graduating from the University of California, Los Angeles, where he played for the school’s football team, Justin has acted in Power Book II: Ghost and hosted the series Respectfully Justin. He also appeared on The Crew League as well as in Usher and Ella Mai‘s music video for “Don’t Waste My Time” along with his younger brother Christian Combs.
Christian Combs
Diddy and Kim’s son has made it clear he’s a recording artist in his own right. Not only is the rapper, known as King Combs, signed to dad’s label Bad Boy Entertainment but he’s also dropped the EP Cyncerely, C3 plus songs like “Can’t Stop Won’t Stop” featuring Kodak Bear, “Love You Better” featuring Chris Brown and “Flyest in The City” featuring A Boogie Wit da Hoodie, Fabolous and Jeremih.
“I had to work for it,” Christian said on an October 2022 episode of The Breakfast Club. “It wasn’t easy to just come out and everybody just receive my music or think that. I have the worth ethic that it takes.”
Chance Combs
Chance—her mom is Sarah Chapman—came into the world in July 2006 while Diddy was also expecting twins with Kim.
Today, she has her eyes set on Hollywood.
“Zendaya is one of my biggest inspirations,” Chance told Laverne Cox on the red carpet at the 2022 Oscars, “and someone that I really want to work with in the future.”
Jessie & D’Lila Combs
Five months after Chance’s birth, Diddy welcomed twins Jessie and D’Lila Combs. And the trio may as well be triplets. Together, they’ve attended the Billboard Music Awards and Daily Front Row‘s Los Angeles Awards. They even walked in Dolce & Gabbana’s fashion show in Italy back in 2021.
Love Sean Combs
Diddy announced in December 2022 that he and Dana Tran welcomed a baby girl named Love Sean Combs. And she’s ready to be a star. She already has her own Instagram account—run by her parents, of course—featuring adorable photos of the little one as well as videos of all her major milestones.
