The rapper and entrepreneur Sean Combs has had many names in his run of fame: Puff Daddy, P Diddy, Sean John…

Now, just known as ‘Diddy’, he is facing up to the fact that his life has changed forever, going from a series of A-list parties with some of the most famous and influential people in the world, to a possible life sentence.

Combs’ reputation took a colossal hit on 16 September when he was indicted on charges of sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution. He also faces multiple allegations of sexual assault and abuse, including from his ex-girlfriend Casandra ‘Cassie’ Ventura who claims she was trafficked, raped and beaten on several occasions over a ten-year period. The rapper, 54, is currently awaiting trial in the notorious Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn, New York (where Jeffrey Epstein died in 2019) and has twice been denied bail. If found guilty, Combs will face life imprisonment. He has denied all allegations made against him and his attorney says he plans to plead not guilty to all federal charges.

With Combs’ reputation in tatters, and potentially more allegations yet to be unearthed, the countless A-list stars who have attended his infamous parties over the years are now likely to be distancing themselves from the man who once held court in Hollywood.

Combs’ rise to fame was unlike anything that’s been seen before. After a tough start in life where his drug dealer father was shot dead when he was a toddler, Combs prided himself on his hustle, working multiple jobs until he first joined Uptown Records as an intern in 1990 before establishing his own label, Bad Boy Records in 1993. Over the years Combs has worked with everyone from The Notorious B.I.G., Faith Evans, Jay-Z, Lil’ Kim and Usher to Mariah Carey and Aretha Franklin. He is also the chairman and CEO of Combs Enterprises with investments in music, fashion, fragrance, beverage, marketing, film, television and media industries – all of which contribute to his estimated $400 million net worth.

He has also hosted an endless list of famous faces at his White Parties over the years, including Kim Kardashian, Justin Bieber, Jennifer Lopez, Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Brand, Paris Hilton, Ashton Kutcher and Megan Fox. To say he was renowned for his VIP guest lists would be an understatement.

While none of these people have been implicated in the upcoming court case, nor have been associated with any of the allegations against Diddy, there is a sense of ‘unease’ in Hollywood right now, according to a Los Angeles source. They tell Grazia, ‘Being invited to a Diddy party was a badge of honour in his heyday. Everyone was lining up to attend those bashes and brag about what an incredible time they had under his roof.’

And on the surface, they sound fun. Rumour has it guests were served ‘champagne from heaven’ by models dressed as angels, they were asked to dress in all white ‘to strip away everyone’s image’. Models danced on podiums, partygoers drank in swimming pools and magicians roamed between the various secluded areas, with parties continuing until the early hours of the morning – or often for days at a time. But a darker side to these parties has emerged over time. Former music industry insider Tom Swoope has claimed that the parties were separated into ‘tiers’ of access, with ‘general admission’ and an ‘inner sanctum’ where drugs and sex were reportedly available.

One claimant, Adria Sheri English, who worked as a go-go dancer at Diddy’s Hampton parties in 2004 and 2005, alleges, female workers were encouraged to drink from ‘specific bottles’ which were ‘laced with drugs’. The rapper’s attorney has said, ‘Mr Combs is confident he will prevail against these baseless claims in court.’

However, when Combs’ house was raided by Homeland Security in March, they seized 1,000 bottles of lubricant and baby oil. This is something rapper 50 Cent joked about on The Drew Barrymore Show, claiming that he never attended Combs’ parties because he felt there was ‘an uncomfortable energy connected’ to them.

Other celebrities did not seem to agree. In a 2014 episode of Keeping up with the Kardashians, Khloe had just returned from one of Diddy’s parties and said, ‘half the people there were butt naked’ later saying ‘when you think of a good time, you think of Puff’. In a 2016 interview with Howard Stern, Usher said there were ‘very curious things taking place’ during the ‘Puffy Flavour Camp’ parties. And appearing on Hot Ones in 2019, Ashton Kutcher was asked if he had any Diddy party stories to share and said, ‘I’ve got a lot I can’t tell.’

As the beating heart of these elusive and lavish affairs, Combs once declared, ‘I am the Great Gatsby’. He said during one TV appearance: ‘You’re gonna hear about my parties. They’re gonna probably be arresting me, doing all types of crazy things just cause we wanna have a good time.’ A prophetic statement. Now, Combs awaits trial, a date for which has not yet been confirmed. Whatever happens, his life has changed forever.