If there’s one person a son can always rely on for support through the good times and the bad, through the thick and the thin, from troubled waters to still, it is their mother.
And so it proved on Sunday when under fire rapper, producer and entrepreneur Sean ‘Diddy‘ Combs was joined by loyal mum Janice, 83, outside his sprawling Miami home.
Recently the subject of a federal investigation into sex trafficking, the compound was back to being a family home of sorts as Diddy and Janice unwound in its spacious garden.
Smoking a cigarette and casually waving at onlookers, the father-of-seven looked unfazed by the storm currently building around him after he was named in multiple lawsuits alleging sexual misconduct.
Lounging alongside her son in a wide-brimmed sun hat, Janice mirrored her son’s relaxed demeanour, her broad grin offering little indication of concern regarding those unsavoury allegations.
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs was supported by mother Janice on Sunday as he unwound in the grounds of his Miami mansion, recently the subject of a federal investigation into sex trafficking
As doors close and celebrity friends distance themselves amid the ongoing investigation, who is Janice Combs?
The pair were pictured just days after he was named in a lawsuit as a co-defendant alleging that his son Christian ‘King’ Combs sexually assaulted a woman working on a yacht he chartered.
But as doors close and celebrity friends distance themselves amid the ongoing investigation, who is Janice Combs?
Born on 22 December 1940 and raised in New York City, Janice worked a variety of jobs to make ends meet after husband Melvin Earl Combs, Diddy’s father, was shot dead at the age of 33 in January 1972.
Diddy – also known by previous stage name Puff Daddy – was born in a public housing project in Harlem, New York and brought up in Mount Vernon with his sister, Keisha.
But he would be raised by Janice as a single mother following the death of his father, a former US Air Force serviceman, when he was two-years old.
An associate of feared New York City drug lord Frank Lucas, Combs was shot and killed while sitting in his car during a reported drug deal in Central Park West.
Janice would support her children during those early years by working as a teaching assistant and part-time model.
In recognition of her commitment to supporting him as a child, Diddy would later name his lucrative Janice Combs Music Publishing and Janice Combs Management companies after her.
An associate of feared New York City drug lord Frank Lucas, Diddy’s father Melvin Earl Combs was shot and killed while sitting in his car during a reported drug deal in Central Park West
Didy as a child. He would be raised by Janice as a single mother following the death of his father in 1972
Diddy with his mother Janice, a former teaching assistant and model, at New York Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in 2003
Janice joined her son, the eldest of her two children, on the red carpet at the 60th Primetime Emmy Awards in 2008
Janice also made a short-lived foray into restaurant management in 2001 by turning an unassuming Brooklyn lot into Mama Duke Southern Cuisine.
The soul-food takeaway, located at Flatbush Avenue and Bergen Street in Prospect Heights, served fried chicken dinners for four years before abruptly closing its door for good in 2005.
Visitors to the Prospect Heights Web log, dailyheights.com, later claimed the business was shut down by Janice because the landlord had raised her monthly rent by some $2,000.
However the post was later retracted when landlord Matthew Pintchik, owner of a neighbouring hardware store, denied the claim, the New York Times reported at the time.
Away from business management Janice has also featured on a variety of TV shows, among them America’s Next Top Model and I Want to Work for Diddy, which saw contestants vying for a job with the rapper.
She was later credited as an art department assistant in Kamal Smith’s 2022 release Ear 2 Ear, an independent thriller starring Marcia Adams.
In 2020 Diddy gifted Janice with $1million and a new Bentley in celebration of her 80th birthday at a lavish dinner in Los Angeles.
The rapper, 51, proved that nothing was too good for his mother, 80, as he presented her with the big money cheque in front of guests at her birthday party.
Diddy then led his mom outside where he revealed a brand new Bentley sat on the driveway for her, as their friends gathered around to watch.
Diddy’s mother has featured on a variety of TV shows, among them America’s Next Top Model and I Want to Work for Diddy, which saw contestants vying for a job with the rapper
Janice mirrored her son’s relaxed demeanour as they made an appearance outside his family home in Miami on Sunday
In 2016, Diddy was left feeling ‘conflicted’ after being told his third great grandfather was born a free man in 1850 – despite living in slave state Maryland.
In an emotional episode of Finding Your Roots: Family Reunions, he was told that while it’s extremely rare for African-Americans to have had free ancestors during the mid-1800s, his relation Robert Allsop was one such individual.
Show host Henry Louis Gates told Combs: ‘Make no mistake about it man, this is not typical of the black experience.
‘For 90 percent of the African-American people who sat where you’ve sat when I’ve done their family tree, no free ancestors.’
The information clearly has a big impact on Combs, who looked pensive before saying: ‘It makes me feel kind of conflicted that my family was free when so many families weren’t.’
Diddy is hand-in-hand with Janice at the 3rd annual BET Honors, held at Washington D.C venue Warner Theatre on January 16, 2010
Diddy was sued November 16 by the singer Cassie, who accused him of rape and physical abuse before the case was settled out of court
Several lawsuits have brought public scrutiny to the music and business mogul, beginning with a November suit from his former protege and girlfriend, the R&B singer Cassie, which alleged years of sexual abuse, including rape. It was settled the following day.
Diddy and his attorneys have denied all of the lawsuits’ allegations, while the rapper’s homes in Miami and Los Angeles have been the subject of raids carried out by federal authorities.
Diddy, a three-time Grammy winner and the founder of Bad Boy Records, is among the most influential hip-hop producers and executives of the past three decades. He turned his hip-hop empire into a broader business empire that includes private-label spirits, fashion, and a TV network.
In a statement after the raids, Diddy’s attorney Aaron Dyer called them an ‘unprecedented ambush’ and a ‘witch hunt’.
So far, he has not been arrested in relation to the raids, nor has he been charged with any crime.
In 2016, Diddy was left feeling ‘conflicted’ after being told his third great grandfather was born a free man in 1850 – despite living in slave state Maryland
The American star is pictured eating lunch with his mother Janice in New York City in 2003
Dyer’s full statement at the time read: ‘Yesterday, there was a gross overuse of military-level force as search warrants were executed at Mr. Combs’ residences. There is no excuse for the excessive show of force and hostility exhibited by authorities or the way his children and employees were treated.
‘Mr. Combs was never detained but spoke to and cooperated with authorities. Despite media speculation, neither Mr. Combs nor any of his family members have been arrested nor has their ability to travel been restricted in any way.’
The raids came after the Harlem-born hip-hop star was hit with multiple lawsuits alleging sexual assault, rape, and other crimes after he settled his ex-girlfriend Cassie’s similar lawsuit in November.
‘Enough is enough. For the last couple of weeks, I have sat silently and watched people try to assassinate my character, destroy my reputation, and my legacy,’ Diddy wrote December 6 in his only statement on the matter.
‘Sickening allegations have been made against me by individuals looking for a quick payday. Let me be absolutely clear: I did not do any of the awful things being alleged. I will fight for my name, my family, and for the truth.’
Diddy’s homes in Los Angeles (pictured) and Miami have been raided by federal authorities
Police are seen outside his sprawling Holmby Hills property during the raid in March
‘I have decided to resolve this matter amicably on terms that I have some level of control,’ Cassie said in a statement.
The suit alleged he controlled and abused her for over a decade – as well as plying her with drugs, beating her, and forcing her to have sex with male prostitutes while he watched and recorded.
The pair, who met in 2005 when she was aged 19, split in 2018. The lawsuit claimed that just before the end of their relationship, he forced his way into her home and raped her.
After Ventura launched her lawsuit, Liza Gardner and Joie Dickerson-Neal also filed papers claiming the rapper sexually assaulted them in the early 1990s.
Combs sent out a tweet denying the accusations in December and saying that all allegations made against him are from people ‘looking for a quick payday’.
The star stepped down as chairman of Revolt TV in November and saw Hulu scrap a planned reality TV show that would have featured his family, in December.
Law enforcement descended on Diddy’s Star Island mansion in Miami Beach (pictured) during raid over alleged sex trafficking
Diddy is understood to own two impressive properties on Star Island in Miami (pictured)
Cassie and multiple other women who have sued him for sexual assault in recent months are reportedly cooperating with federal investigators as an alleged sex trafficking probe involving the hip hop mogul heats up.
Cassie has been working with investigators for ‘several weeks,’ sources with direct knowledge told TMZ on Wednesday.
The timing means that the 37-year-old singer may have even been working with feds in the run-up to the dual Homeland Security raids on the rapper-turned-executive’s Los Angeles and Miami mansions.
Sources with knowledge of the investigation said that Cassie may have helped authorities establish the probable cause needed to get a judge to sign off on search warrants on the two mansions.
Although the contents of Cassie’s conversations with investigators are unknown, she has presumably been speaking about the accusations contained in her lawsuit, which Diddy settled after just one day.
In addition to accusing the record label head of rape, sexual battery and physical abuse, she also claimed that he had forced her to have sex with male prostitutes while he watched and masturbated.
The aftermath of the Department of Homeland Security’s raid on Diddy’s home
Part of the inside of Diddy’s home was seen in these pictures following the raid
The rapper allegedly photographed and filmed some of these encounters, and Cassie claimed that she was forced to watch the recordings of herself having sex with other men while under the influence of copious drugs.
Elsewhere in her suit, the singer alleged that Diddy at one point made her hold his gun in her handbag, and she claimed that in 2012 he blew up the rapper Kid Cudi’s car in retaliation for a brief relationship he and Cassie had when she was on the outs with him, which Diddy allegedly told Cassie he planned to do beforehand.
Cudi agreed with Cassie’s claims about the car bombing, tell the New York Times that ‘This is all true.’
Diddy and Cassie were together for around 10 years, though they were on and off at several times before the relationship ended for good in 2018.
Diddy has vehemently denied all of Cassie’s claims, as well as the claims of the successive women who sued him over similar offenses in subsequent months.
However, at least some of those women are also reportedly speaking with investigators.
The additional accusers may have strengthened the authorities’ case, as many of the women’s allegations bore strong similarities to Cassie’s initial set of accusations.
