Anushka Matandadawati (4:15)

Did you say something like if somebody calls her name from the other side of the room or she gets an email, she can't react in what she would think would be a normal way anymore?

Neda Taufik (4:25)

Exactly. She said she gets triggered by normal situations that she just overreacts to because she gets an overwhelming fear that she's being in trouble. So, for example, if someone asked her where she was, you know, because they just wanted to grab a drink or get together, she said she took that as she was in trouble, like she had to justify where she was and what she's doing. So she said it all just kept coming back, that anxiety, and that's why she couldn't hold a trigger job.

Anushka Matandadawati (4:49)

And we've heard a few times before from the prosecution. They ask about legal representation. Did they question Mia about whether she'd retained any?

Neda Taufik (4:57)

Yeah, they did. And again, I think this is getting ahead of any defense argument. Right. So they asked her about her break with Diddy's company, Revolt Films. Basically, she describes how Diddy wanted to disband the company and move on. And after she left, in her telling, she was told by executives to hire an employment lawyer. But Diddy and others took that as a betrayal, asking her why she was doing that. But then she got into describing how when the talks dragged out about her settlement, she eventually told her lawyers about the violence and the other accusations she's made, and that her lawyers suggested a settlement of $10 million. Prosecutors asked her how much she ended up getting in the end. She said she ended up with 200,000 and her lawyers with 200,000 and that she never received any other money. And at the moment, at least, she has no pending lawsuits.

Anushka Matandadawati (5:57)

Did she tell her lawyers about the sexual assault and the alleged abuse?

Neda Taufik (6:01)

She said she didn't say anything about the sexual assault. She said she was going to die with that.

Anushka Matandadawati (6:06)

So.

Neda Taufik (6:06)

So she didn't have any plans to share that at the time. But again, prosecutors wanted to get that out on direct. Right, because no doubt, just like we've seen with other witnesses, the defense are gonna ask, why did you not speak about this earlier?

Anushka Matandadawati (6:21)

And then she has her direct testimony, and then we go into the cross examination. The main goal to destabilize the narratives being offered to the jury from the prosecutors. Was it Brian Steele who took this one?

Neda Taufik (6:34)

It was. It was Brian Steele. And he came off right from the get go, putting up various different Instagram posts she had made that were very flattering towards Diddy, describing him as something of a mentor of a best friend, posting about all the vacations that they went on. And he kept asking her over and over, you described this as somebody who traumatized you, as somebody who raped you, and yet on the first time, you recall him sexually abusing you on his birthday. You're writing these birthday messages. You're always being complimentary toward him. And Mia kept saying, you know, my job was to manage his social media profile. This was essentially Instagram versus reality. She said people on Instagram at the time were only sharing the good stuff about their lives. She didn't want her family to worry about her, and she wasn't going to post the negative things. But what the defense was trying to do by posting Instagram post after Instagram post after Instagram post was just to try to hammer in the jury's minds, if somebody was so traumatized, how could they be able to write such loving and glowing descriptions of their boss and someone they described as, you know, a best friend and a family member?

Anushka Matandadawati (8:00)

Mia kept making reference to her therapist and therapy and her processing why she reacted in those ways.

Neda Taufik (8:07)

Yeah, she said, look, you know, I'm not a professional. You'll have to ask someone why victims react that way. But she said, I just wanted to keep him happy, that I would be safer if he was happy, and that there were very high highs and very low lows. She said, I'm not going to shy away from the fact that we did have great times together. And she said, you don't forget the abuse. But she felt like she would get punished for reacting and was terrified of that. And so she didn't want it to happen again. So repeating this idea of keeping him happy for her safety.

Anushka Matandadawati (8:46)

And I saw about the Instagram post, but then I also saw about this birthday scrapbook and that being brought up a few times. Where were the defense going with that?

Neda Taufik (8:54)

Yeah, so before we got to the scrapbook, there was a really interesting discussion amongst the prosecution and the defense in front of the judge, out of the presence of the jury. And the defense wanted to introduce a video of Mia. It was a birthday message, about a 20 to 30 second message. Now, the court never saw this video because the judge said the defense didn't get it in on time. But what they were saying to the judge was they wanted to portray Mia as putting on an act. They said the video would show her real personality and it would be at odds with this woman on the stand who, you know, is looking down, not able to look up with her head bowed. But they weren't able to introduce that. But what they were able to introduce was the scrapbook. Right. And it was because they were coming off of Mia suggesting that the Instagram posts were for public consumption. It was all part of her job. And they were expected as staff to post about Diddy and all his events. But this scrapbook was a present for his birthday. So this was a personal thing. There was no pressure to do it. And she essentially said, look, I wanted to do something nice for him. So she put together different articles from the 1990s to show his career progression and how well he'd done over the years. The prosecutors really hammered her during this cross examination. Just saying it doesn't make sense. Somebody that you said touched you, did unforgivable things. How can you create the scrapbook if he abused you? And she just kept saying, you know, it's more complicated than you describe. Abuse is more complicated. And she said, you know, that's how victims behave. And he said, well, what if you're not a victim? And then he kept asking her, aren't you lying? Aren't you lying? And she was adamant that everything she had said was the truth.

Anushka Matandadawati (10:44)

And when I was talking to our resident criminal defense Attorney Sean Kent. The other day, we were speaking about Mia and what charges, some of what she said spoke to during her direct testimony. And he kept talking to me about forced labor. And we've heard this before, being forced to work ridiculously long hours and to do it via threats of fear, fear or coercion, et cetera. Now, did they speak about this in the defense? Did they talk about, you know, her freedom of movement or how much she was allowed to have free time, for instance?

Neda Taufik (11:12)

Yeah. So some of the photos of her and Cassie in different countries, they'd ask, you know, was Diddy there with you? Was Mr. Combs there with you? You had friends outside. You had family that you could reach out to. In response to that, she actually said, no, I really didn't have time to have an outside circle. In fact, I had to ask for permission to go to my grandmother's funeral. But they kept hammering this idea, like, are you a weak person? She didn't know how to answer that. This idea that she had the ability to leave and she had choices, and the cross actually opened up a few opportunities for her to express herself more. So she talked about how nobody in the office ever flinched at his behavior, that she was always in trouble and they never stood up for her, and she was just always flinching, finding ways to not face punishment. And this also really elicited a strong cross examination from the defense. They were saying, why would you need somebody to tell you that what he's doing is wrong? If he's abusing you, if he's threatening to kill you, why do you need somebody to tell you that that's wrong? And again, you could tell that Mia was trying to find a way to explain that. She said, look, I'm a people pleaser. I try to make everyone happy. She's like, I don't know if I should be apologetic for that.

Anushka Matandadawati (12:31)

And they're not quite done with Mia. She's back on Monday.

Neda Taufik (12:35)

Yeah. So Mia has been on the stand for quite a while. Right. We've had nearly two full days, and she's going to be back next week. Now, I mean, Cassie had four days on the stand. But look, Mia is somebody who was a very longtime employee. In fact, Diddy, in one of the messages, allegedly called her his right hand. And she was close to Cassie, so she has a lot of testimony on what she witnessed there. And then she has her own allegations of abuse. So there's been a lot to pick through. And so I would, you know, expect the defense to also just need some more time to try to undercut that testimony.

Anushka Matandadawati (13:16)

Neda, thank you so much for filling us in today.

Neda Taufik (13:18)

Absolutely.

Anushka Matandadawati (13:25)

That was the BBC's New York correspondent, Neda Taufik. And that's it for this episode of Diddy on Trial with me, Anushka Matandadauty. Don't forget to subscribe and turn on your push notifications so you never miss a thing. And if you're in the UK and you would like support about any of the issues we've talked about today, you can go to BBC.co.uk actionline.

Stephen Stockwell (13:52)

She'S accused of murdering her relatives by serving death cap mushrooms inside a beef Wellington. Erin Patterson's trial has finally started and all the details about that infamous lunch are now coming out.

Neda Taufik (14:03)

It's a tragedy what's happened.

Simon Jack (14:04)

I love them.

Stephen Stockwell (14:05)

I'm Stephen Stockwell and I'm here in the small Victorian town of Morwell where the triple murder trial is underway every day. On the Mushroom Case Daily podcast, we'll tell you about all of the evidence presented in the courtroom. To make sure you don't miss an episode, hit follow on the Mushroom Case Daily podcast. Wherever you get your podcasts.

Zing Singh (14:25)

I'm Zing Singh.

Simon Jack (14:26)

And I'm Simon Jack.

Zing Singh (14:27)

And together we host Good Bad Billionaire.

Simon Jack (14:29)

The podcast exploring the lives of some of the world's richest people.

Zing Singh (14:32)

In the new season, we're setting our sights on some big names.

Simon Jack (14:35)

Yep, Lebron James and Martha Stewart, to name just a few.

Zing Singh (14:38)

And as always, Simon and I are trying to decide whether we think they're good, bad or just another billionaire.

Simon Jack (14:44)

That's Good Bad Billionaire from the BBC World Service.

Zing Singh (14:47)

Listen now, wherever you get your BBC podcasts.