CNN
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On the surface, rapper Kid Cudi and music mogul Sean ‘Diddy” Combs appear to have a few things in common.
Both lost their fathers when they were young and have praised their mothers for their strength as single parents. The two men also rose through the ranks of hip-hop to become Grammy-winning, multiplatinum selling performers.
But while Combs’ fame was expanded through his reality TV shows and annual White Parties, Kid Cudi has been more private and selective about the aspects of his life he chose to share.
The man born Scott Mescudi is stepping into a different kind of spotlight this week, as a witness called by prosecutors in Combs’ federal sex-trafficking trial.
Combs has pleaded not guilty.
Prior to Combs’ criminal case, Mescudi was included in a civil lawsuit filed in 2023 against Combs by his former girlfriend, Cassie Ventura. Mescudi and Ventura had a brief relationship in 2011, when she and Combs were in a “rough patch” in their relationship, according to her lawsuit.
“Mr. Combs found Ms. Ventura’s phone and found emails between her and Kid Cudi. Mr. Combs became enraged and proceeded to place a manual corkscrew between his fingers and lunged at Ms. Ventura,” her complaints states. Ventura “ran away to stay at Kid Cudi’s home to escape Mr. Combs’s wrath” but ultimately returned to Combs after allegedly “feeling like she could not escape Mr. Combs and his network of enforcers.”
“Mr. Combs told Ms. Ventura that he was going to blow up Kid Cudi’s car, and that he wanted to ensure that Kid Cudi was home with his friends when it happened,” Ventura alleged in her lawsuit. “Around that time, Kid Cudi’s car exploded in his driveway.”
Through a spokeswoman, Mescudi confirmed Ventura’s account that he had a car that exploded.
“This is all true,” the spokeswoman told the New York Times in 2023.
Mescudi has not publicly commented on the incident since.
Combs and Ventura settled her lawsuit the day after it was filed. He admitted no wrongdoing.
The federal indictment against Combs includes reference to using arson as a threat.
In her time on the witness stand last week, Ventura testified about Mescudi’s car being torched, reiterating what was in her civil suit.
By testifying in the Combs trial, Mescudi will be giving the public insight into a life he has seemingly worked hard to protect.
The 41-year-old Cleveland, Ohio, native came into the music industry as a protégé of Kanye West. He released his debut album “Man on the Moon: The End of Day” in 2009 and has recorded a total of ten studio albums throughout his career. He won two Grammy Awards in 2012 for “All of the Lights,” a song on which he collaborated with West.
In 2020, Mescudi’s collaboration with Travis Scott on “The Scotts” claimed the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100. Mescudi has also appeared on screen in TV series such as “Westworld” and “How to Make it in America,” as well as films like “Don’t Look Up” and “X.”
Away from his creative projects, Mescudi shared in 2022 that he had struggled with anxiety, depression and substance abuse in his past.
During a fundraising dinner for New York–Presbyterian Hospital’s Youth Anxiety Center, Mescudi explained that he was 11 when his father died. As a youngster, he got “really good [at] masking the madness over the years, being the youngest of four, staying in my place, being quiet, entertaining myself,” he said.
The pressure of the spotlight and substance abuse as an adult led to mental health struggles, Mescudi said.
“I was darker than I ever had been in my life,” he added in his remarks, so he sought help.
“Since rehab, I’ve been pacing myself with work. For example, I don’t drop an album every year anymore; I do it every other year,” he reflected. “That was one of the things that drove me mad up until 2016, because I was dropping an album every year and that took its toll on me.”
CNN has reached out to representatives for Mescudi for comment.
CNN’s Alli Rosenbloom contributed to this story.
