A former model who accused Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs of sexual assault claims she saved the dirty clothes she was wearing the night the rapper allegedly attacked her.
Crystal McKinney said in a lawsuit that she kept the clothes wrapped in a plastic bag for more than two decades after claiming to have been drugged and sexually assaulted by Combs in 2003.
According to her lawsuit filed this week in New York, McKinney said she met Diddy because she was told he could “advance his modeling career” but was plied with marijuana and alcohol before being forced to perform oral sex on the rapper.
McKinney said she believes Diddy “blackballed” her from the industry after the incident and watched her career crumble before attempting suicide in 2004.
Former model Crystal McKinney is the latest person to come forward with allegations against Diddy, alleging that the rapper drugged and sexually assaulted her in his studio in 2003.
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs allegedly ‘banned’ McKinney from the modeling industry after the incident at his studio
McKinney first gained attention as a model at age 17, when she won MTV’s first ‘Model Mission’ beauty pageant in 1998.
Her initial success led to her being invited to a Men’s Fashion Week event in 2003 in New York City, where she claimed in her lawsuit that she was referred to Diddy to help her career.
Citing a person named only as “the designer” in the lawsuit, she said they arranged for her to meet the rapper and gave her a complete makeover to impress him.
This included new hair extensions and roots to look “platinum blonde”, and a striking outfit that she claims to have kept more than two decades later.
She said the designer dressed her in “a black leather coat with a fur hood, a sheer beige chiffon V-cut shirt, a fur-lined purse, and jewel-encrusted jeans,” according to the lawsuit.
McKinney said she kept the clothes “because of the traumatic events that would occur later” and never washed them before putting them “in her closet, where they remain in plastic wrap.”
Early in the evening, she said she was taken to meet Diddy at the Cipriani Downtown restaurant in Manhattan, where he was eating and drinking with other people, including the designer.
“Once seated, Combs made a very public display of approaching plaintiff in a sexually suggestive manner that continued throughout the dinner,” the suit says, adding that he constantly refilled her wine glass.
McKinney first gained attention as a model at age 17, when she won MTV’s first ‘Model Mission’ beauty pageant in 1998, and said her interaction with Diddy came after she was invited to New York City. York for a Men’s Fashion Week event.
Diddy (pictured with ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura) allegedly gave McKinney alcohol and marijuana before forcing her to perform oral sex. He has denied a series of sexual assault allegations against her and has not been charged with any crime.
Diddy allegedly boasted about her influence in the fashion world and whispered in her ear that he was “going to make it” in her career, and his behavior was described as “flirtatious, bordering on leering.”
After leaving the restaurant, the rapper told her to call him later and she said they met up later that night at his studio in Midtown Manhattan.
McKinney said when he arrived he found Diddy drinking and smoking marijuana with friends, and he joined them. After becoming intoxicated with both substances, she said she had enough, but Diddy allegedly continued to harass her with more.
She alleged that at some point, Diddy took her to a back room, before forcing her to perform oral sex on him while she protested, which left her feeling “terrified and physically sick,” the lawsuit states.
The model said she passed out in the studio and woke up in the back of a taxi headed to the designer’s apartment.
After the incident, McKinney said he saw his career “completely diminish and evaporate,” and believes it was Diddy who cost him the money.
He attempted suicide in 2004 over the alleged incident and said he was constantly reminded of it over the years, as Diddy “was an inescapable presence in music, television and film.”
The latest lawsuit comes a week after shocking footage emerged showing Diddy violently assaulting his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura at a California hotel.
Diddy released an apology video following the video’s release, where he said he was sorry for his past behavior and said he was “screwed.”
The lawsuit is the latest in a series of scandals and legal battles facing the embattled rapper, who was said to be “shocked” by the release of surveillance footage last week showing him assaulting his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura.
The footage sparked widespread outrage, and Diddy subsequently shared an apology video in which he said he was “f***ed.”
He has also faced raids by federal agents on his properties in Florida and California over an alleged human trafficking investigation.
The rapper has denied the allegations against him and has not been charged.