Diddy apologises for beating up Cassie: 'I hit rock bottom'

Music mogul Sean 'Diddy' Combs, 54, took to Instagram Sunday morning to offer an apology after a disturbing video of him beating up his ex girlfriend Cassie Ventura, was released by CNN last Friday. The video has since gone viral.

Diddy, in a post which said "truly sorry," finally broke his silence over the video.

"So difficult to reflect on the darkest times in your life, sometimes you got to do that. I was [expletive] up. I mean I hit rock bottom, but I make no excuses, my behaviour in that video is inexcusable. I take full responsibility for my actions in that video, I'm disgusted.

"I was disgusted then when I did it, I am disgusted now. I went and I sought out professional help, I got into going to therapy, going to rehab. Had to ask God for his mercy and grace. I'm so sorry. But I am committed to be a better man each and every day. I'm not asking for forgiveness, I'm truly sorry," the embattled rapper and businessman stated.

CNN exclusively obtained a March 2016 surveillance video which shows Combs violently assaulting Ventura during an incident at InterContinental Hotel in Century City, Los Angeles. CNN says that they "verified the location based on publicly available photos of the former hotel’s interior". The hotel has since closed.

In the video, a shirtless Combs is seen in a white towel draped from the waist down, in the hotel hallway, grabbing, kicking and dragging Ventura, who was had just exited the bedroom and had walked towards the elevators. CNN notes that the footage "matches allegations in a now-settled federal lawsuit filed by Ventura in November".

Combs and Ventura dated between 2007 and 2018, after meeting in 2006 when she was 19 and he was 37.

Ventura had claimed in the lawsuit that Combs had paid the hotel $50,000 for the footage after the attack. In her suit filed last November, Ventura described an incident similar to the one caught on security footage at the LA hotel.

The suit was resolved the following day.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office has since confirmed that it is "unable to charge" the rapper over the "extremely disturbing" footage.

In a statement posted on Instagram, the District Attorney’s Office said: "We are aware of the video that has been circulating online allegedly depicting Sean Combs assaulting a young woman in Los Angeles. We find the images extremely disturbing and difficult to watch.

"If the conduct depicted occurred in 2016, unfortunately we would be unable to charge as the conduct would have occurred beyond the timeline where a crime of assault can be prosecuted. As of today, law enforcement has not presented a case related to the attack depicted in the video against Mr. Combs, but we encourage anyone who has been a victim or witness to a crime to report it to law enforcement or reach out to our office for support from our Bureau of Victims Services."

Combs is tied up in ongoing legal issues and is facing five other civil lawsuits accusing him of sexual misconduct and abuse. In February, a music producer filed a lawsuit alleging Combs coerced him to solicit prostitutes and pressured him to have sex with them. Another of Combs’ accusers was a woman who said the rap producer raped her two decades ago when she was 17. Combs and his attorneys have denied all of the lawsuits’ allegations.

In March, Combs' homes in Miami and Los Angeles were raided by Homeland Security as part of a sex trafficking investigation. His sons were handcuffed during the raid at their father’s residence in Los Angeles.