Diddy's Alleged Abuse Towards Danity Kane Had A Purpose, Says Dawn Richard

BYAron A.7.9K Views
Link Copied to Clipboard!
Scott Gries/Getty Images
Sean "P. Diddy" Combs poses for a photo with (L-R) Dawn Richard, Aubrey O'Day, Shannon Bex, Aundrea Fimbres, and D. Woods of Danity Kane backstage during MTV's "Making The Band 4" finale at the MTV Times Square Studios August 26, 2007 in New York
Danity Kane's Dawn Richard details Diddy's alleged verbal abuse to get the group to "toughen up."

Dawn Richard of Making The Band's Danity Kane has come forward with some frightful allegations about her time with Diddy. In an interview with Wild Wayne Unchained podcast, Richard admitted that Diddy is a genius but there was a dark side to his brilliance. She said that Diddy would say things like, 'You're not worth it," and 'You're going home.'

Julien M. Hekimian/Getty Images

“He would literally do it every day,” Dawn recalled. “And I would be so stressed out I lost [weight], I was so skinny and my dad was stressed out. I heard they were calling my dad like ‘How do we get them out of this?’ They were asking Puff for a lot of money to get me out of the contract.”

The insults got word with Richards detailing how Diddy attempted to have them "toughen up."

“He would bring us in the room and say, ‘You’re ugly. You gotta fix your face.’ Wild stuff. But he was preparing us for what the industry would be,” she said. “But if we would have done what we did in this time, Puff would have been crucified. Because you can’t talk to women now — like the levels of what he was saying, it was aggressive. It was really aggressive. It was crazy.”

“The last time before he picked the band he made me change twelve times,” she added. “I just knew I was going home, the reason why he made me change was going to pick me the whole time but he made me feel like s*** and be stressed out because he wanted to see if I’d be off my game.”

Peep the full interview below. 


About The Author
Aron A. is a features editor for HotNewHipHop. Beginning his tenure at HotNewHipHop in July 2017, he has comprehensively documented the biggest stories in the culture over the past few years. Throughout his time, Aron’s helped introduce a number of buzzing up-and-coming artists to our audience, identifying regional trends and highlighting hip-hop from across the globe. As a Canadian-based music journalist, he has also made a concerted effort to put spotlights on artists hailing from North of the border as part of Rise & Grind, the weekly interview series that he created and launched in 2021. Aron also broke a number of stories through his extensive interviews with beloved figures in the culture. These include industry vets (Quality Control co-founder Kevin "Coach K" Lee, Wayno Clark), definitive producers (DJ Paul, Hit-Boy, Zaytoven), cultural disruptors (Soulja Boy), lyrical heavyweights (Pusha T, Styles P, Danny Brown), cultural pioneers (Dapper Dan, Big Daddy Kane), and the next generation of stars (Lil Durk, Latto, Fivio Foreign, Denzel Curry). Aron also penned cover stories with the likes of Rick Ross, Central Cee, Moneybagg Yo, Vince Staples, and Bobby Shmurda.
...