Who is Crystal McKinney? Diddy accused of assault in new lawsuit filed by former model

Sean “Diddy” Combs has been accused of s*xual assault in a new lawsuit filed by former model Crystal McKinney. She claimed to have met the Bad Boy Records founder in the early 2000s at an afterparty of a fashion event when she was 22 and Diddy, 33.

Trigger Warning: This article contains mention of abuse. Reader discretion is advised.

Crystal alleged in the lawsuit that Diddy forced her to engage in s*xual acts with him while she was under the influence of alcohol and marijuana, very much upon the rapper’s supervision.

She also claimed the marijuana might have been mixed with narcotics as it felt too strong. The alleged assault took place at the music mogul’s New York City studio as per the filing.

Under NYC’s Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Law, Crystal’s lawsuit was filed Tuesday in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. The law provides survivors of such violence a two-year lookback window to seek legal aid against their abusers irrespective of when the assault took place.

Crystal McKinney was MTV’s 1998 Model Mission winner, after which she received a model contract with NYC-based company IMG. She participated in various other MTV shows and modeled in a Tommy Hilfiger fashion campaign.

As per an old interview video, Crystal is from Savannah, Georgia. She said she dreamt of becoming a model since she was a kid and had a knack for fashion from an early age.

The video captured her mother, Cynthia, being supportive of her career. Chaz, Crystal's then-boyfriend also appeared in the video, while Cynthia seemed a little disapproving of their relationship.

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Crystal McKinney claimed her modeling career got blackballed after the alleged assault

The lawsuit states Crystal met Diddy after a fashion designer invited her to a Men’s Fashion Week event at Cipriani Downtown restaurant in New York City in 2003.

During the dinner, Diddy allegedly made an overtly public display of approaching her in a s*xually suggestive manner while offering her glasses of wine one after another.

According to the filing, Sean “Diddy” Combs also made promises to advance Crystal’s career and gave her his phone number. He later invited the former model to his studio the same night.

Crystal McKinney claimed after arriving at the studio, Diddy and his associates started drinking Hennessy and smoking marijuana. She took a puff of the joint and said that it was too powerful, making her feel like she was floating. The then-model further claimed that the joint might have been laced with a drug, most likely a narcotic.

Shortly after that, Diddy allegedly demanded Crystal follow him to the bathroom where he made her engage in nonconsensual kissing and f*llatio. The filing states, that Crystal began feeling extremely “woozy” after that and lost consciousness not long after.

She later woke up inside a cab that drove her back to the designer’s apartment and realized that she had been s*xually assaulted.

It was not clarified in the lawsuit whether she referred to the alleged f*llatio that happened at Diddy’s studio or another act that she might have been subjected to in her unconscious state.

Following the assault, Crystal McKinney claimed that Diddy used his contacts in the industry to blacklist her from the modeling world. She said that the number of modeling opportunities after that began to lessen and eventually stopped coming altogether.

In the aftermath of her submerging career, Crystal McKinney claimed to have found herself struggling with anxiety and depression. The lawsuit states she attempted suicide in 2004, leading to hospitalization.

The lawsuit comes days after a 2016 hotel surveillance footage capturing Diddy physically abusing former girlfriend Cassie Ventura was released on Friday, May 17.