His real name is Sean Combs. He was known as Puff Daddy (his high school football teammates gave him the nickname because he used to puff out his chest to look big) until 2001, when he changed it to P. Diddy, which is a name Biggie Smalls called him. In 2005, he announced on the Today show that he would now be known as "Diddy" because the P was "getting between me and my fans." A few years later, he started using Puff Daddy again, or just Sean Combs.
He sent Luther Vandross to serenade his love interest, Jennifer Lopez, on Valentine's Day, 2001. It didn't work - they broke up soon after.
In 1999, he was arrested and later acquitted of a nightclub shooting. In 2001, NBC ran an episode of Law And Order based on the incident.
Before becoming a mogul, he danced in some videos, including "I'm Not The Man I Used To Be" by The Fine Young Cannibals.
Born in Harlem, his father was a New York City street hustler who was murdered when Sean was 2. He moved with his mother to nearby Mt. Vernon, where he grew up.
He went to Howard University, but dropped out after two years. He later made substantial donations to fund scholarships, but the university cut ties with him in 2024 amid allegations of abuse.
He got his start in the industry with an internship at Uptown Records in 1990. He quickly rose up the ranks and started working in artist development, where he helped Mary J. Blige become the "Queen of Hip-Hop Soul." In 1993 he founded his own label, Bad Boy, which quickly developed an impressive roster of talent that included Craig Mack, The Notorious B.I.G., and Faith Evans. After B.I.G. was murdered in 1997, he released the tribute song "
I'll Be Missing You," which was one of the biggest hits of the year.
Combs is known as much for his entrepreneurship as for his music. One of his most successful ventures his his Sean John clothing line, founded in 1998. He's also launched various fragrances, including one called Unforgivable in 2006.
Puff Daddy has a cozy relationship with MTV, which like him is based in New York City. He starred in a few seasons of their reality show Making The Band, where the group Danity Kane formed under his purview. He also hosted the MTV Video Music Awards in 2005.
He shows up in a lot of movies and TV shows playing himself, but has taken character roles as well, notably in the films Monster's Ball (2001, playing Halle Berry's husband), Carlito's Way: Rise to Power (2005) and Get Him To The Greek (2010).
He never got married but has seven children. Here's the breakdown:
1991 - adopted son Quincy (with Kim Porter)
1993 - son Justin (with Misa Hylton)
1994 - son Christian (with Kim Porter)
2006 - daughter Chance (with Sarah Chapman)
2006 - twin daughters D'Lila Star and Jessie (with Kim Porter)
2022 - Love Sean (with Dana Tran)
Public records show he was ordered to pay $20,000 a month in child support for Christian and $19,000 for Justin. He takes fatherhood seriously and has maintained relationships with all his kids.
Kim Porter, whom he dated the longest, died in 2018 of pneumonia.
His empire started to unravel in 2023 as women came forward accusing him of sexual abuse, most prominently Cassie Ventura, a singer who signed to his Bad Boy label in 2006. Combs denied wrongdoing, but in May 2024 a
video appeared on CNN showing footage of him viciously beating Ventura in a hotel in 2016. In the aftermath, he lost what partnerships he had left and more accusers came forward.
In July 2025, Combs was convicted of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution, in violation of the Mann Act. October 3, 2025, he was sentenced to 50 months in federal prison.
