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- [00:00]
TJ Holmes
Brands spend $32 billion every year on influencer marketing, yet most still don't know if it's actually working. Are you seeing a positive ROI from your influencer campaigns or is your team just tracking likes and follows? At Jive PR and Digital, we turn influencer engagement into real, measurable sales. Our clients see a 50% lower cost per acquisition compared to traditional ads. No more wasted budgets, no more guessing. Head to jiveprdigital.com to see if your brand is a fit.
- [00:31]
Amy Robach
Amy and TJ presents Aubrey o' Day.
- [00:33]
TJ Holmes
Covering the Diddy Trial welcome everybody to Amy and TJ presents Aubrey o' Day. I'm TJ Holmes alongside my partner Amy Robach and Romes. A lot of people know and love Aubrey o' Day. They know the name and they love the music. They know her as a platinum selling chart topping artist.
- [00:52]
Amy Robach
That's right, she was a member of the hit making all female group Danity Kane. But a lot of people in recent years and months have become more familiar with her as an outspoken, very public supporter of Cassie Ventura, the ex girlfriend of Sean Diddy Combs. Aubrey has been outspoken and has frankly minced no words in her thoughts about Diddy.
- [01:16]
TJ Holmes
And of course, many people have many thoughts about Diddy. But Aubrey is uniquely positioned to speak about him because she got to see him and know him in a way that most of the world never did. He was her boss, her mentor. You could argue he was the one who gave her that shot at stardom, putting her in Danity Kane as a member of that band and making the band. I did watch that show for several seasons and I still have some of the music from that first Groovy put together on some of my playlists. The band, there are some that I still love, but it's in that capacity. Aubrey o' Day is sitting next to us here in New York City and let's start. Aubrey, you are, as we sit here right up the street from where the trial is taking place.
- [02:04]
Aubrey O'Day
I didn't even realize that.
- [02:05]
TJ Holmes
Yeah. So some people saw that you were going to be in New York and they immediately started jumping to conclusions. So can you clear that up? First of all, are you here to testify in the Diddy trial?
- [02:16]
Aubrey O'Day
No, I'm not here to testify for the Diddy trial that I know of.
- [02:20]
TJ Holmes
You know what? Was that ever something that came up or consideration? Did you ever get a call, any lawyer? Did you even stand by and maybe even think you might be called?
- [02:27]
Aubrey O'Day
I was contacted by Homeland Security and I did. I did have a meeting with Homeland Security.
- [02:35]
Amy Robach
And at any point did they tell you, we're considering you to testify, we're considering your evidence that you've given us in the trial.
- [02:42]
Aubrey O'Day
They tell you to keep discretion with your meeting with us, obviously, because the trial has taken place. And, you know, aside from being on a poster board the first day of trial and jurors naming me. And that was a little uncomfortable because I didn't understand that piece. You know, the times we've talked in between since then, I feel it's a comfortable place where I can say that now.
- [03:10]
TJ Holmes
And folk, this is how it works, isn't it? I am sure that. I mean, you posted a picture on your Instagram story of you on a plane coming to New York. And it wasn't much longer than that that some. Some tabloid writes that sources say she's coming to testify. And now it's just everywhere. What has that been like? Just after that article came out, what kind of happened? Phone started ringing, texts started coming. So what was that like? And that was just the past 24 hours.
- [03:40]
Aubrey O'Day
Yeah. So I got a message from, actually, our producer here, and she said, do you have something you need to tell me? And then sent me the article. And then I was, like, immediately in shock because all I did was read the headline. And the headline was like, she's testifying today. We know what she feels about it. Like, click this to see her feelings on it. And I was like, thinking to myself, like, what in the world? I hadn't even had time, because as that happened, about 600 text messages flood in. 600 calls. And I don't know if it's people here that I'm picking up or not. So I pick up a call. It's tmz, it's this one, that one. I hang up. And then when they know that you picked up, they'll call back 15 times. You have to run to your phone, get their numbers, block them. So I did that about 15 to 20 times. Like, it took all morning to just handle that. And beyond that, beyond the hassles of it, it's a safety situation. And like you said, I posted on my Instagram that I was here in New York and enjoying myself because I wanted to make it clear to everyone that I am not here testifying. Because obviously, if anyone knows at all anything about situations like this, or if you don't, let me explain to you. This is a very. You could potentially be in danger. And it's not something that you go announce. It's not something that you frolic around about you definitely don't speak about it. I have been outspoken. You definitely don't travel openly and let everyone know where you're staying and who you're with. You said in danger, so I thought I was like, yeah.
- [05:10]
TJ Holmes
In danger from whom?
- [05:12]
Aubrey O'Day
I mean, New York is Diddy City, you know, the hotel I'm staying at is the hotel that he's filmed many things in. And everybody remembers me from when I was a kid. The same guys that were working back then were working there now. When I walked in, I didn't even need to hand an id. He said, you've aged so well since you were a kid. I don't remember any of these people, but they all remember me. They want to get into their feelings on it. They want to ask me questions about Cassie and Puff. And they're telling me they miss certain people that I know are part of some very heavy allegations, even in regards to me. And they're talking about missing them. It's just triggering, so triggering. And, of course, nobody knew that when I was being put in that hotel, that that was a staple hotel of the man. And I don't like being difficult, but that's what I've been experienced. So I don't even know. I didn't know if a hotel leaked it, if I didn't know how it happened, in all honesty.
- [06:07]
Amy Robach
Wow. And so I've got a couple questions. First of all, how do you feel being back here in New York? You just described that you were inadvertently put in a hotel that was very familiar to you with your days with Diddy. And just being here and knowing he is on trial just a few blocks away, how do you feel emotionally?
- [06:27]
Aubrey O'Day
So when I got here, I felt that exhilarating feeling that New York gives you. Right. It just buzzes unlike any other place in this country. And that I got, like, an instant, like, I got those throwback feelings of when things were good. And then I started to see things that reminded me of times and positions and situations that occurred that were not so pleasant. And then I started to feel a little more grumpy about being in the city. And then after, you know, I'm constantly reviewing testimony. I'm constantly seeing people that I was there and knew at all of those times. I mean, I was there when Cassie was brought in, when she was dating Ryan prior to Puff and all of the above. So it's, like, very sensitive for me to watch her have to tell the world the things that were going on. It is a very difficult thing to do. The bravery is unmeasurable right now, especially eight months, eight and a half months pregnant. And it's triggering. And then also, I kind of feel, you know, I was asking people that are in court, that I'm friends with journalists, and I was asking, does she feel like she's still hurting? Like, are you seeing someone that's hurting? Are you seeing someone that's healed and just recalling things for a trial? And she said, definitely, still hurting, and very much in the process of, like, fully being engulfed in what it is to go through all of it. And that hurt me because I just wanted to believe that this was, like, something that she was so healed from or that she was, you know. But she said it's almost cathartic because it feels like at the end of watching her each day that she's facing this person and she's able to finally get this off of her chest. And so she thinks that. She told me she thought this would likely be something that's going to be healing, which then, you know, all of the band. I talked to everyone from Dubb Band, the band that you like. Babs and I are sisters. We're on FaceTime. I'm going to try to. She'll come on the show and talk with us as well. Our unique perspectives are very interesting. But, you know, I talk to everybody most of the nights, and it's triggering everybody in different ways. It is a whirlwind. We go up, we go down. Some days we have sympathy for Puff. Some days we feel that he's an absolute monster. And we say all kinds of things that I cannot repeat. Like, it's very, very uncomfortable.
- [08:56]
TJ Holmes
Tell me about the sympathetic days to Diddy. What does that look like when you have a moment of feeling bad for the guy?
- [09:05]
Aubrey O'Day
Well, because it wasn't all bad, but I don't know that any of the good was real. So I hearing how graphic. I mean, these are things that were, you know, known, but just hearing very specific details.
- [09:27]
Amy Robach
How known were they, though? I'm curious.
- [09:30]
Aubrey O'Day
Bad Boy was like. You know how they say prison being in prison? It's like the most. It's the bigger. You get more gossip in prison than you do in West Hollywood. Like, they talk in prison. Bad Boy. Everybody was bumping the gums. They were all talking everything that they knew that was going on. And you'll hear testimony in a lot of the civil cases. They talk about videos just being passed around of things that were going on. I mean, everybody was always discussing things.
- [09:58]
Amy Robach
How did this not get out sooner then?
- [10:03]
Aubrey O'Day
I think. I think it's a number of things. I mean, you know, Babs and I were. I was talking with my lawyer, and I was saying, you know, it's frustrating for me to see so many people depending on the day, right? The first day, Cassie was being attacked in a good amount of the discussion forums. The second day, people were like, okay, yeah, you know, they're building a case, so it takes time to present. And they're establishing something much bigger than just this story right now. They have to establish an entire organization of crime. We're starting with just an inside perspective of what one person who is being trapped, allegedly trafficked, looks like, right? So it's like. It's like. Sorry, what was your exact question?
- [10:46]
Amy Robach
Well, my question was how with. With so many people who knew what was going on that there was video, there was evidence.
- [10:53]
Aubrey O'Day
So I think that in the very beginning, Babs and I were speaking about this. Last night, there was coercion happening in front of the world. She sent me a clip of this famous artist right now whose mom had auditioned for making the band. And she was like, yo, he just went on tiny desk. He killed it, and he brought his mom on, and he sings in his song how she auditioned for making the band and didn't get it and came home crying and thought her career was over. And now she was sitting next to him on tiny desk singing. And she was like, look at this. And I recognized her. And they kind of flashback to the episode where Diddy made us run Central park until a few people dropped. They would be cut, and then we would move on to the next task for the day. Run Central park while he is in a golf cart with a megaphone screaming, doing the most, while the girl next to me's knees are buckling. People are crying. We were out there for a good while. We were running until people fell. That was the mission at hand. So I was saying that, like, why would anybody do that? And it's because this very powerful person was offering us the opportunity of a lifetime. And the command was run Central park until people drop. Once the number has reached conclusion, we will move on to the next thing. And then when I said that to Bab, she said, let me give you my perspective. I'm a black woman from Brooklyn, and I was in a group with all black men and a mixed woman. Another, the singer, Sarah. And he said we were sitting in a room with him, and he told all of us, walk to Brooklyn and get cheesecake. So racially, to get a room full of the most talented kids that were around. At that time that, you know, there's a lot of commentary on. Oh, well, Cassie was weak. She wanted to be there this, that or the other. They're painting a lot of pictures around the. The image or the idea of Cassie. Well, let's look at the idea of a bunch of people from Brooklyn that look like Puff and him telling them to walk to Brooklyn. People developed tendonitis. People were in the hospitals that night. Babs told me the next day, after recovering from the hospital, Puff comes in and says, hey, I heard you went to the hospital. And she thought it was gonna be a moment of like, good job, like, way to fight. And he was like, so, baby, are you telling me you wanna go home then, is what you're saying? Like, she now in this day and age, and she should come on the show and say it herself. But she has so many regrets for just culturally, what that looks like racially, what that establishes in front of the world and that. That long ago, Puff could get his own people to walk to Brooklyn and get him cheesecake. It's not even a Cassie's mixed or people in Danity Kane were mixed or whatever. It's literally even in all races and everything, all genders, across the board. Everybody was so encompassed by this all encompassing human that none of us batted an eye when we were given commands. And it's basically coercion. You know, coercion is not just black and white, how everyone's looking at it.
- [14:05]
TJ Holmes
But where were you on that scale during your experience in the band once you had made the band? I mean, what was your. How would you describe your experience with him? Said it wasn't all bad, but there was. And you don't know if the good. Would you say, don't know if the good was real?
- [14:20]
Aubrey O'Day
Yeah, I don't know if the good was real. I mean, I had moments that were. I felt like. I mean, I've said this before, like, if you could ask me to revisit anyone, and I've been a lot of. Around of a lot of very powerful people, and not just around them, but dated them and have lived with them and so on and so forth. If there was anyone that I could revisit being proud of me and the feeling that they gave me when they thought I did something great, it would be Puff. That feeling was unlike any other. Everything has been pretty underwhelming. And I went on to be almost the last female standing and almost win Celebrity Apprentice in front of Trump for two, three months straight. We filmed that show. Who's our president Now, I've been around a lot of very powerful people.
- [15:13]
Amy Robach
He knew how to make you feel really good, but then he also knew how to do the opposite.
- [15:17]
Aubrey O'Day
There's the charisma, the charm, the energy as a man. It's what Cassie was saying on the stand. It was so. It was just so. It felt so good when you had his attention and he approved of you. Even for me, I looked more for the approval that I was doing something right because we were always doing something wrong and we were always needing to fix and it wasn't said to us in the nicest of ways. You know, when people recall making the band, they now look at it with a different perspective now that some movements have occurred and people realize how you should treat people in a workplace. But the recalling of it is like, wow, he really was doing a lot of wild shit to those people.
- [16:03]
Amy Robach
Every year, brands pour $32.5 billion into influencer marketing. And most still have no idea if it's working. If you're tired of chasing likes and guessing at results, it's time for jive pr. In digital, we're the agency that turns influencer engagement into real, measurable sales. Our clients see a 50% lower cost per acquisition than with traditional ads. And every dollar is tracked from first impression to final sale. No more wasted budgets, no more guessing. Head to jiveprdigital.com to see if your brand is a fit.
- [16:39]
Aubrey O'Day
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- [17:05]
TJ Holmes
Last selection varies by location. Some of the things you talk about might be sounding like a bad dude or even a bad boss, but in your experience with him, did anything he ever did with you cross a line into possibly being criminal?
- [17:24]
Aubrey O'Day
Like federally criminal either?
- [17:26]
TJ Holmes
I mean, whatever it may be, was your experience with him something not just you need to go talk to a therapist about, but maybe a police officer about?
- [17:35]
Aubrey O'Day
I don't know what certain things fall under legally and what's federal and what state. But to give you a broad answer, I went through things there.
- [17:48]
Amy Robach
What's the worst thing he said to you or did to you?
- [17:51]
Aubrey O'Day
I can't speak about that because I am contracted in a situation that has exclusivity over the story.
- [18:00]
TJ Holmes
Oh, so the story that you speak of now will be told, is there when told.
- [18:05]
Aubrey O'Day
I'd like to investigate, and I would like to see justice if. For whatever is the truth.
- [18:14]
TJ Holmes
Now, when can folks expect that possibly to come?
- [18:18]
Aubrey O'Day
Well, right now, this is the moment we're in this federal trial, and, you know, when you speak with Homeland Security, your attorney will tell you you're not victims, cannot speak to other victims. So if someone, let's say, were to have allegedly seen something happen to me, I wouldn't be able to ask them. So if there was something that happened to me where it appeared that I was not awake, if I looked out of it, that would be scary because, of course, then I wouldn't recollect it. I also always season all of that with the other side, which is people also could be lying. You have to season everything with both sides, in my opinion, in order to be a fair and biased person. It's emotionally triggering, but if you don't have a memory of it, then you have questions, basically.
- [19:15]
Amy Robach
Well, so are you saying that there was drug use involved in.
- [19:19]
Aubrey O'Day
I don't know. I don't know.
- [19:22]
TJ Holmes
Am I hearing that you are still trying to piece together exactly what happened?
- [19:27]
Aubrey O'Day
Yes, I have. I cannot further investigate anything with anyone that's a victim that was at that time. You know, you can't speak to other victims. You know, when you're. When. If somebody has spoken with Homeland Security and you have. If you both were asked to testify, it would immediately shut down both of your testimonies if you guys had spoken and there was any proof of engagement. And so I follow the laws, so I did not. I don't. I haven't been able to confirm all these very, very big details.
- [20:00]
Amy Robach
How do you hope to do that.
- [20:02]
Aubrey O'Day
When the time is right? You know, that's very descriptive.
- [20:09]
Amy Robach
Wow.
- [20:10]
TJ Holmes
You know, aside from legality or legal or otherwise.
- [20:13]
Aubrey O'Day
And by the way, there are things I do remember as well, but I'm also exclus. I have an exclusivity on those things as well.
- [20:21]
TJ Holmes
And those will come. We'll find out about that stuff. We're just not gonna find out now. But do you consider yourself, legally or otherwise, a victim of Sean Combs?
- [20:32]
Aubrey O'Day
Yeah, I think all of us were. I mean, we have platinum albums and weren't paid for them, and we wrote on them. It's not even like a. You didn't. You just were taking other people's songs. Like, we wrote. We asked to write as much as we could, but. Yeah, when you work for somebody for that long, and you have platinum albums and you don't see a diamond. This isn't in the streaming era. This is when you had to pay 17.99 for the exclusive or 14.99 when you walked into the store. Aside from all the other work, like, not being able to see paychecks for that, which is interesting because since he has been put in jail, payments are coming.
- [21:19]
Amy Robach
Really?
- [21:20]
Aubrey O'Day
Yeah.
- [21:20]
Amy Robach
You're getting paid for the first time.
- [21:22]
Aubrey O'Day
Yeah. I don't know what it's for. I don't know.
- [21:26]
Amy Robach
I've not been significant payments.
- [21:29]
Aubrey O'Day
They're not as small as the gag order, in my opinion. I call it a gag order because it came prior to Cassie dropping and I smelled something by the third line that did not feel correct. I'm aware of the behavior, and I did feel in my soul that there was something up because there were strings.
- [21:49]
Amy Robach
Attached to that money.
- [21:50]
Aubrey O'Day
Well, he. Remember the big wave of media that covered Diddy's giving all of his artists their publishing back. It was a huge news story. I gotta see every single big journalist. Same ones that said I was on trial. Those types of people, you know, the ones that are truly informed.
- [22:06]
Amy Robach
Well, I don't think we call them journalists.
- [22:08]
Aubrey O'Day
Well, they call them. They consider themselves journalists. And you'd be surprised how many people consider them real journalists. Truth tellers.
- [22:14]
Amy Robach
We've had a little experience with it.
- [22:15]
Aubrey O'Day
Yes, I know you have. You get it then.
- [22:18]
Amy Robach
It is shocking when you. You've been very public in your support for Cassie and very public in how you feel about Diddy and how he treated everyone.
- [22:30]
Aubrey O'Day
Good and bad, good and bad.
- [22:32]
Amy Robach
But when you see this all being now played out, do you feel vindicated? Do you feel like you weren't believed the way you should have been all those years ago? And now when this is all coming out, how does that make you feel?
- [22:47]
Aubrey O'Day
So part of this thing that has occurred has, like a therapy piece attached to it, because, you know, when you're working with companies, they want to make sure you're protecting your mental health in situations like this. Um, when I was speaking about it, the thought, that question was basically played around with. And the answer I came to was there were certain parts of myself every. All along my journey in this industry that I have just had to shed or I wouldn't have been able to stay alive. They were that traumatic, they were that hurtful, they were that painful, they were that disrespectful, embarrassing, humiliating. So much was humiliating. And like, hardly any of it is even factual. I don't even. I don't know that I've seen a factual headline in a while. Years, maybe, but people are, like, saying all of these praises to me all the time. And I think to myself, yeah, I just. I'm numb to it. And even people that say it to me, they're like, don't you feel good? Like, you're finally. People believe you? And I say, do you think that the time and people finally, like, are believing what I said for the past 20 years? And they go, yes, yes. And then I told my therapist, like, that's how I gauge how things are shifting. Because I don't personally feel anything. Those layers of me had to have been shed in order for me to survive.
- [24:23]
TJ Holmes
I'm not putting this on you, but I have heard people in the past when they get to a moment like this and they say, wow, I should have said something sooner or I should have spoke up louder. I should have fought harder. And then maybe this person wouldn't have been able to continue to victimize. Have you had a moment to where you said, you've been staying this for 20 years? Nobody wanted to listen. Now that all of this is out there, have you had a moment?
- [24:44]
Aubrey O'Day
Or maybe I wasn't the right person to deliver the message. Maybe they didn't want to hear it from me. I don't know. Somebody said that to me, though, the other day in a dm, like, maybe they just didn't want to hear it from you. But you have said it. There's a lot of layers to this. I mean, this case essentially has, like, cut open all the delusions of power, of race, of security, of love, of celebrity. This is a very awakening time for some and for others. This is a very, like. This is a time where their truths and everything they know to have been true are being challenged. This is fully exposing the underbelly of what people have painted as this great celebrity life and all these perks that everyone has seen throughout all these years. There are interviewers that are posting interviews with Cassie saying, wow, timing wise. Now that I'm looking at all of the transcript scripts from the trial. This was a week after he had done that thing in the hotel and she was sitting in front of me as sweet as could be. And I would have never have been able to tell you any of that happened. It's just this. I mean, we had media training back then, but nowadays, I guess people are calling this new age more real. What I see happening is not more real. It's just oversharing. I could learn less about most of these people and be fine with it. But in this new era, it's give them all of your life, show them your family, show them your dog. Unless we have access to you constantly, unless you are keeping up with the kids that are posting, you fall behind, you fall off. And for a lot of us that have been in this industry. Industry for decades, when we first. When I first came into the industry, I was coached for a week by media trainers that gave me the answers to any question that was at all going to be something that would disturb our sales. And, you know, for me, they had to really work on me because I have a mouth.
- [26:55]
Amy Robach
Aubrey, with all that, you know, and with all of the experience you've had with Sean Combs, do you think he belongs behind bars? Do you think he belongs in prison for the rest of his life?
- [27:11]
Aubrey O'Day
I think I'm gonna continue to ask myself that question for the remainder of this trial without coming up with a conclusion. I have tried to remove. I wasn't even sure that I wanted to do this. That's why we're a bit late to the. To the ju. And I really appreciate you guys showing respect for me in that time, because this is a very raw moment, and everybody's kind of seeing now what we were really living in and how bad it really got for some people. I mean, I have a bandmate that has a lawsuit and is potentially taking the stand today or tomorrow. This was directly during the era that I was there. This specific case is taking place with all the players that I know and the people that I was around. And I know the levels and extent to which most of my band members experienced harassment or assault or whatever?
- [28:10]
Amy Robach
Well, to that point, is he a threat to people if he is out of prison? If he is out and about and able to live his life with all of his money, Is he a threat to you or to any of your friends or any of your former bandmates? Do you think he would be a threat specifically?
- [28:29]
Aubrey O'Day
I can give you a few examples of why I would lean toward yes on that. He wanted Alex Fine taken out of court. His lawyers fought very hard to make sure that Alex was removed. They brought up text messages that Alex sent him, basically saying, like, I'm gonna fuck you up, et cetera. Now, listen, if your wife came home and told you that that had been happening to her, you'd prob. And I'm gonna fuck you up to some people as well.
- [28:53]
Amy Robach
And Alex is Cassie's husband, just to.
- [28:56]
Aubrey O'Day
Point out to folks, so it's not Anything alarming. This was years ago that that occurred. But to bring it up as a reason that Puff has been. His life has been threatened by this man. As if Puff is scared. He brought guns to a Suge Knight dinner. I don't know how scared he necessarily would feel over Alex. Fine. But to propose that his life was endangered and threatened by this man and he can't be in the room, that shows me that DIDD still up to his bullshit. The fact that the kids are marching up to that court, praying over everything, and walking in with a bunch of women also that are encouraging it. I don't know any father that would want their children to sit through testimony about how much their daddy liked to watch people lubricated, fucking getting pissed on and urinated in their mouths, having his girlfriend come in the other room and rub come all over his nipples. Is that anything you would want your child to learn about either of you? Not saying y' all do that, but whatever the freakiest night you guys have had, would you want your children to know about it? It's concerning to me that the optics of them being there and supporting father are obviously a very strong play for the defense. The jury is seeing them in there. What kids would sit there through this if they didn't love their daddy? And this, this was not true. It's an optics game likely, but the optics on that. As a father, you're a father first. And as a father, I just wouldn't want my. My two girls that are only a year younger than Cassie was when he started dating her. 19 to 37. I believe the girls are around 18. I would not ever want my child to hear anything like that. And the fact that it's. The family are making these big gestures and there's, you know, his mom bringing them in, Kimora brought them in at one point. There's women that are potentially encouraging their presence in the courtroom every day. And maybe that is what makes them feel like that's necessary or whatever, but I don't think they probably like to hear that either. It's telling to me it means that daddy's being selfish and he needs. In my opinion, it feels like daddy needs you in court because daddy needs all the optics to look in his favor. And I don't really care what you have to sit through. And that to me is just showing that same narcissism and ego and, may I dare I say, coercion that we're discussing about this man. You know, his needs come first. What he wants comes first. Cassie has said that many times on the stand.
- [31:50]
TJ Holmes
When was the last time you talked to him? What was the last interaction you all had? Do you remember how long ago it was and what wasn't?
- [31:57]
Aubrey O'Day
God, I think it might have been in Las Vegas when I had a residency there in a stage show. And I think he was, like, flirty and fun, and I maybe made a comment, like, still seeing if you can make it without me. Kidding. I remember going on Breakfast Club after I got my own television show named All About Aubrey, and it was on buses and elevators. I remember going on Breakfast Club and being like, did I make it now without you? Did he? And I think that actually played it for him, from what I hear. But, yeah, I mean, it felt good to prove that, yes, I can make it without you.
- [32:46]
TJ Holmes
Did you all tell. It wasn't bad terms. And at that point when you saw him, however, those years and years ago, you kind of were pleasant. I'm saying, as we sit here now, the feeling you have about him after all this has come out, did you part having those same feelings about him because you knew so many things that the public didn't know?
- [33:07]
Aubrey O'Day
Did I part. What do you mean?
- [33:08]
TJ Holmes
When you all kind of went your separate way, did you. When you left the band, when you saw him that last time in Vegas, did you feel as strongly as negatively about him then as you do now because you had a lot of that information just wasn't public yet, or did you learn a lot that also intensified your feelings?
- [33:25]
Aubrey O'Day
So I knew a lot of things. I don't know at the time, I understood them to be illegal. And I don't at the time, think I understood. Well, actually, I mean, gun things like weapons and whatever, I knew that was illegal. I mean, listen, when we got off the floor at Daddy's house, it was just a big white smoke. I mean, during studio sessions, we used to run to the emergency stairs so we could get some breath, so we wouldn't get too high. Like, it was a cloud of white smoke. I don't particularly smell it.
- [33:52]
Amy Robach
Cloud of marijuana?
- [33:53]
Aubrey O'Day
Yeah. The whole floor, you'd come out reeking like you have never had a day in your life without weed. Like, it was. It was very intense. So for me, did I see a lot of very intense things that weren't okay? Yes. Did I understand that anything was like this criminal enterprise? I don't know at that age that I would have put all of that together. And I'm a sharp girl. I did see that everybody was at his beck and call. I did see that. When he wanted something, he got it. I did see everybody that was working for us running around and doing his bidding. I did see that when we were told to do something, we were expected to do it.
- [34:38]
Amy Robach
Were you ever afraid of him?
- [34:41]
Aubrey O'Day
That one's a little harder for me. That's a claim that my band member has made in her lawsuit. That she participated in things out of fear, I believe is what I read. I was never afraid of him to the point where I ever would have done something sexual willingly. I would have had to have been drugged if anything happened with me.
- [35:06]
TJ Holmes
And it never did. To be clear, huh? And it never did. To be clear, what never did that never happened between you and Sean Combs. There wasn't ever a physical relationship or he never came onto physically.
- [35:17]
Aubrey O'Day
Never willingly. The came onto me physically. That's not what I'm saying. Okay, well, what I'm saying is there was never consensual sex ever.
- [35:25]
Amy Robach
Is that what you're investigating?
- [35:27]
Aubrey O'Day
I can't get into it.
- [35:28]
TJ Holmes
Okay. But yeah. Wow, that's. You sit here all these years ago and to think somebody's trying to figure out what happened to them because of the environment, you always. That's kind of mind blowing.
- [35:38]
Aubrey O'Day
My own little personal hell. It's been like that since it started.
- [35:42]
TJ Holmes
We've been seeing testimony and reading testimony and all these things, but that's.
- [35:46]
Aubrey O'Day
I watch it all like I'm looking at it like this is what I have to do. I have to pull myself out of feeling like I want to understand the vindication of what I have been told was the truth. But I always have to temper it with maybe it wasn't. Maybe I was utilized. But again, if I was utilized because I'm somebody that has been vocal about this person for two decades, then and they felt like adding me into the mix would be something beneficial, then the amount of detail that I received, I would feel very. I'm not the one to do that too. I will absolutely pursue that to the highest degree. You cannot do things like that. So I'm just really not the one to fuck around with like that. They chose the wrong girl.
- [36:40]
Amy Robach
Well, Aubrey, we are fascinated.
- [36:45]
Aubrey O'Day
Again, I'm not saying that I do or don't believe anything. I honestly just don't know.
- [36:49]
Amy Robach
Yeah, you're trying to find it out.
- [36:51]
Aubrey O'Day
I'm trying to understand.
- [36:52]
TJ Holmes
You are not sure all these. You don't know if you were assaulted or not.
- [36:55]
Aubrey O'Day
I wouldn't have ever thought that until. Until I received something that was certain that of what was seen.
- [37:05]
TJ Holmes
So that explains maybe a Lot of the lawsuits. A lot of these folks are maybe figuring out what happened to them back then, and they know they lost it.
- [37:13]
Aubrey O'Day
That was a part of, you know, the experience with the person that came to me. It was something that they, they, they went. They went through their own situation and they were gaslit and made allegedly. And made to feel allegedly like that didn't occur. And then someone admitted to her that it did, that this lawsuit comes out, allegedly. And then she thinks back, oh, my God, that one thing that I saw, maybe that was like this and like mine and whatever. So, you know, it's like all this, it's all very complicated and yeah, not being able to get any answers. I mean, I even asked Homeland Security, like, if you guys investigate this and find this out, like you're gonna tell me they can't. They can't. They don't. They're federal officers. They don't gossip. They don't share information. They can't legally. They're very good at what they do. They have a very high conviction rate, and I don't believe they would have brought this lawsuit forward if they couldn't prove it. They have too high of a conviction rate to do something like that. And that's what everyone needs to remember as this trial continues on that allow everything to unfold. We're just getting pieces of things right now. But every day I go back and forth from trying to understand, well, okay, some is consensual, some obviously isn't. It's obvious that there was fear there. Anybody that gets beat like that has fear. It's very traumatizing for anyone that's ever been in any sort of abusive relationship. It is bringing up so much, so much. And that's from. For me, and I was there like other people that weren't even there are bringing. It's so palpable. Anyone. And if you haven't experienced that abuse, I'm so happy that you were had enough information at that young of an age to not be able to be manipulated, coerced, groomed, et cetera, and be put into situations like that and more power to you. But be very gentle about assuming that everybody else understood those types of things the same way you did. I think we all need to be very careful of placing our experience and our understanding and our know all in life, as it were. Everyone else's. Everyone is very different.
- [39:40]
Amy Robach
That's a really, really, really good point, Aubrey. And you know, we just want to tell our listeners, we are so appreciative of you being vulnerable and opening up and talking about your experiences. And you're going to help walk us through this trial as we see this testimony take place, because you can offer perspective like no one else. And so we appreciate you joining this conversation about what we're seeing and helping people understand what was happening and reading between the lines from the testimony that we hear, because you have insight like no one else. So we appreciate you, and we're going to hear a lot more for you. We're going to go through the trial and we're going to talk as we see several of these women, some of them anonymously, come up and tell their stories about their experience with Diddy.
- [40:26]
Aubrey O'Day
Yeah.