While Sean “Diddy” Combs’s contact list has shrunk amid his sex trafficking case, his children remain steady supporters.
As the trial gets underway in New York, we expect to see the majority of the hip-hop mogul’s children show up for him at court in Manhattan, as they have all along.
Combs is the father to seven children with four different women: Quincy, Justin, Christian, Chance, twins D’Lila and Jessie and Love, who range in age from 33 to 2. Since his arrest, all of them, with the exception of the youngest, have appeared at hearings and will attend the trial after jury selection.
“The entire family will be present to support their father,” a family source told Yahoo Entertainment. “It’s always family first.”
The trial won’t be easy to sit through. Combs is accused of coercing women, including his ex-fiancée Cassie Ventura, into participating in drug-fueled sex performances (“freak offs”) and using his business and its employees to conceal his alleged crimes. Combs maintains his innocence of all charges, which also include racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution.
The Combs kids have been entwined with the case since the start — and have been their father’s biggest defenders at a time when Hollywood has distanced itself from the rapper.
When Homeland Security raided Combs’s homes in Los Angeles and Miami in March 2024, two of his sons, Justin and Christian, were in the Los Angeles home and detained and handcuffed, but not arrested.
Just prior to Combs’s arrest at a Manhattan hotel in September 2024, he was photographed walking around the city with Christian.
As Combs has been in and out of court, the kids have been a visible presence at Daniel Patrick Moynihan Courthouse. They put on a united front, often coming and going together, usually in a chauffeured SUV. Sometimes they are joined by Combs’s 84-year-old mother, Janice.
Sean “Diddy” Combs’s children Chance Combs and Christian Combs and his mother, Janice Combs, depart a pretrial hearing at the Southern District of New York Federal Court in New York on March 14. (Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images)
Their support for their father has extended beyond court. In October, they shared a family photo — including Love and her mother, Dana Tee, as well as Janice — along with a statement saying they “stand united” and support Combs “every step of the way.”
In November, they had a birthday cake in Combs’s honor. The siblings recorded a video of it, including them calling their father at Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where he is incarcerated, having been denied bail by three judges.
At the same time, Christian, 27, briefly took over Combs’s Instagram account to spread “good energy” to remind people of “all the positive things” his father has done. The decision was criticized as “cluelessly timed.”
Christian, who performs under the name King Combs, has publicly defended his father through his music too. He released a song about the federal raids last May called “Pick a Side.” Christian later released “One More Prayer” in February about his father’s troubles as well as the 2018 loss of his mother, Kim Porter. In it, he name-checked his siblings, saying they have helped him “through the trauma.”
Outside of the federal charges, Combs faces dozens of civil lawsuits alleging sexual abuse. In one, Christian was accused of sexual assault, which his lawyer denied, calling it a “meritless claim.”
The Combs kids are trying to go about their lives, parallel to this situation. Always a family that has flexed their finances, the kids have been criticized for their lavish vacations and lifestyles while their father is in jail.
In January, the 18-year-old twins, who are high school seniors, were “wrapped in Christian Dior” and living the yacht life during a trip to St. Barts. Chance, 19, was in Puerto Rico in March. Quincy, the 33-year-old son of Al B. Sure, who was adopted by Combs, launched a vlog about his lux life, sharing footage of a Combs family vacation (sans dad).
Happier times: Combs, center, with Justin, Christian, Quincy, D’Lila, Jessie and Chance Combs at the 2020 Pre-Grammy Gala and Grammy Salute. (Steve Granitz/WireImage via Getty Images)
When it comes to the trial, it’s imperative that Combs’s kids put a pin in their vacation schedules and show up for their dad, says former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani.
“It’s very important that Diddy’s children attend the trial,” said Rahmani, president of West Coast Trial Lawyers. “Jurors expect to see family support, and it humanizes criminal defendants. We saw this with Rihanna in the A$AP Rocky case.”
Rahmani continued, “Even though jurors are only supposed to consider guilt or innocence and not consider the potential sentence, Diddy’s children may implicitly influence jurors who may sympathize with Diddy and not want to send him to prison.”
Outside of his family, Combs hasn’t gotten a lot of public support. Kanye West has made pleas to “Free Puff,” which may not be the best image with all his drama. Others have been largely silent — or made Combs a punchline, like Will Smith and Jamie Foxx did — pending the outcome of this trial.
