Inside Janice Combs relationship with Diddy as she denies abuse claims 

The recently released documentary, Sean Combs: The Reckoning, has brought attention to Diddy's mother, Janice Combs.

Janice Combs was a single parent to Diddy after she lost her partner when Diddy was three. She worked wherever she could, modeling, assisting in classrooms, while trying to steady a household that never had much money. Their life in Harlem and later Mount Vernon came with financial strain, but the relationship between them seemed to harden through it.

As Diddy’s fame and businesses grew, he introduced his mother into his world. He gave her financial support and made her part of his ventures: she managed one of his restaurants, and he named two of his companies, Janice Combs Music Publishing and Janice Combs Management, after her. She also operated Mama Duke Southern Cuisine from 2001 through 2005. Viewers of I Want to Work for Diddy would remember her as a presence on the show.

In a 2006 interview with Oprah Winfrey, Diddy opened up about his mother, saying:

“My mother likes to spend time with me. She loves me so much, and she’s so proud of me. She almost killed herself to make sure I went to private schools, to expose me to travel.”

Recently, Janice stepped forward after 50 Cent’s explosive Netflix documentary stirred new controversy around her family.

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Diddy’s mother disputes abuse allegation, says Netflix Doc twisted their family history

In a statement shared with Deadline on December 6, Janice Combs pushed back at how Sean Combs: The Reckoning portrayed her son’s early life.

“I am writing this statement to correct some of the lies presented in the Netflix, Sean Combs: The Reckoning, released on December 2, 2025,” she shared.

She also added that the documentary’s depiction of “Sean’s upbringing and family life” had been shaped “to mislead viewers and further harm our reputation.” Janice Combs, who had been present for most of her son’s two-month trial earlier this year, also accused Netflix of leaning into “the salacious to promote the series.”

As reported by Us Weekly on December 7, Diddy had been arrested in September 2024 on charges that included sex trafficking, racketeering, and transportation to engage in prostitution. He pleaded not guilty and was later convicted on two counts of transportation for purposes of prostitution, while being acquitted of the sex trafficking and racketeering charges. He is now serving a 50-month sentence and continues to insist he is innocent. Janice Combs also rejected one of the documentary’s more personal claims.

“The allegations stated by Mr. Kirk Burrows that my son slapped me while we were conversing after the tragic City College events on December 28, 1991, are inaccurate and patently false, that was a very sad day for all of us,” she shared.

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Inside Diddy’s wild childhood home: Why a friend says the chaos started with his mother, Janice Combs

Rolling Stone reported on January 9, 2025, that a longtime friend of Sean “Diddy” Combs described a chaotic atmosphere inside the rapper’s childhood home, one he said was shaped by parties hosted by Combs’ mother, Janice.

In the documentary Diddy: The Making of a Bad Boy, hip-hop producer Tim “Dawg” Patterson claimed it wasn’t rare for kids to open a door and see adults being intimate during those gatherings.

“That’s what we were privy to; this is what we were fed,” Patterson said in the film.

The file debuted on Peacock on January 14.

“Was it desensitizing us? I’m sure it was. Were we aware of it? No, that was just Saturday night.”

Patterson pointed to that environment while addressing Combs’ legal problems. The federal investigation accuses Diddy of forcing his ex-girlfriend, Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, to take part in drug-fueled, filmed sexual encounters with male sex workers, alleged “Freak Offs,” as Combs supposedly called them.

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Bad Boy cofounder claims Janice Combs took his ownership stake

Us Weekly reported on February 27, 2025, that Janice Combs had become the focus of a new lawsuit brought by Bad Boy Records cofounder Kirk Burrowes. The filing landed in Manhattan federal court on February 26 and accused her of quietly taking control of his 25 percent stake in the company.

According to the complaint, Burrowes alleged that Diddy had pressured him into giving up his share years earlier by threatening physical harm. The lawsuit claimed that Janice later took that stake “secretly and unlawfully,” a move he said he had not uncovered until recently.

Court documents obtained by Us Weekly stated that Burrowes argued the timeline did not fall under the typical six-year statute of limitations because he only learned of what he called Janice’s “fraudulent concealment” tied to events dating back to 1996. He said an investigation completed last year uncovered “irrefutable evidence” that she

“secretly received and unlawfully [assumed] control of [his] 25 percent ownership stake in [Bad Boy Entertainment].”

The suit further alleged that Janice Combs

“engaged in a decades-long scheme of intimidation, violence, fraudulent misrepresentation, and financial concealment to strip [him] of his rightful ownership interest in and to BBE.”