As he awaits trial for sex trafficking and other charges, Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ fall from grace has been dramatic. Once a chart-topping music mogul who worked with the likes of Jennifer Lopez, Usher and Mary J Blige and oversaw a hugely successful empire, he is now behind bars in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center, having been denied bail twice.
Combs, 54, was arrested on 16 September and charged with sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution. Prosecutors alleged that he also engaged in kidnapping, forced labour, bribery and other crimes, which he has pleaded not guilty to. It comes after a string of allegations of gang rape, sexual assault and other accusations over the past 12 months, which Combs has denied.
‘Enough is enough,’ he wrote on his Instagram account in December 2023. ‘For the last couple of weeks, I have sat silently and watched people try to assassinate my character, destroy my reputation and my legacy. Sickening allegations have been made against me by individuals looking for a quick payday. Let me be absolutely clear: I did not do any of the awful things being alleged. I will fight for my name, my family and for the truth.’
It's a far cry from the rapper and producer’s heyday in the ‘90s and 2000s, when Combs was the man to be seen with. His annual White Parties, with their star-studded guest lists and extravagance, became legendary amongst Hollywood circles over two decades. Anyone who was anyone would be invited – you knew that you have made it if you secured one of those coveted 1,000 invites, which would be your golden ticket into these elite circles.
Here’s what we know about the infamous White Parties…
What is a White Party?
The era-defining White Parties were lavish affairs. All guests had to abide by a strict head-to-toe white dress code, with the bash set in all-white surroundings. ‘I wanted to strip away everyone’s image and put us all in the same colour, and on the same level,’ Combs told Oprah Winfrey in 2006.
Celebrity chef and businesswoman Martha Stewart, who was a guest at the first party, said, ‘Having an entire party all dressed in white was a stunning sight.’ Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke recalled that guests were turned away at the door for wearing beige or black shoes.
Where were the White Parties held?
Combs’ White Parties were held at his East Hampton waterfront home at Hedges Banks Drive over the Labor Day Weekend. The summer soirees, which lasted three days, branched out to St Tropez and Beverly Hills, California, when Combs moved to the West Coast. There were Fourth of July spin-offs too.
When was the first White Party?
The first White Party took place on 7 September, 1998. ‘I remember the first party he threw in the Hamptons. It was iconic and everyone was there,’ said hotel heiress Paris Hilton.
The tradition started when Combs generously decided to show off his new Hamptons home by inviting more than 200 glitterati to a barbeque. He wanted to integrate the world of rap and hip-hop into the echelons of the mega-rich. ‘I had the craziest mix [of guests]: some of my boys from Harlem, Leonardo DiCaprio after he’d just finished Titanic. I had socialites there and relatives from down south. There were 200 people sitting out here, just having a down-home cookout,’ he said of that inaugural party.
That initial do led to Combs being described as ‘a modern-day Gatsby’. He relished the comparison to F Scott Fitzgerald’s character who threw extravagant parties to impress his wealthy neighbours, boasting, ‘I am the Great Gatsby.’
Who attended Combs’ White Parties?
The guestlist of Combs’ White Parties read like a who’s who of the ‘90s and ‘00s. An invite meant you were someone worth knowing and cemented your A-list status, across entertainment, business, finance, fashion and technology. Movie stars mingled with singers, socialites and entrepreneurs, with frequent guests including Leonardo DiCaprio, Jay-Z and Beyonce, Mariah Carey, the Kardashians and Paris and Nicky Hilton.
Jennifer Lopez, who dated Combs from 1999 to 2001, attended some parties too. Combs’ late wife Kim Porter, the mother of three of his children, was also a guest and was pictured with their twins, D’Lila and Jessie, on her lap.
Combs once declared Leo ‘the number one person’ on his invitation list for his parties.
There is no indication that the celebrity guests at Combs’ White Parties were involved in any wrongdoing.
What happened at the White Parties?
Champagne was freely available, with guests served ‘champagne from heaven’ by models dressed as angels.
While the A-list attendees were seen posing for photos, it looked like things got more debauched once the sun went down. ‘We fed you all, we gave you drinks, now it’s time to enjoy life. This is a celebration of life. This is the real White Party,’ Combs said in recently resurfaced footage from one of the events. ‘Kids have an hour left, [then] this thing turns into something that when you get older, this is something y’all gonna want to come to… so let’s just start to get our groove on, put the kids away. It’s all good.’
Photos show Combs pouring Veuve Clicquot champagne over two topless women at the 1998 party while two half-naked women were pictured cavorting in the swimming pool and then pouring champagne into the open mouth of a male guest at the 2008 party. Another image showed two topless women straddling someone in the pool.
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.
Combs himself had even told Entertainment Tonight that he felt one day he would be arrested for his 'crazy parties.'
'You're gonna hear about my parties,' he said. 'They're gonna be shutting them down. They're gonna probably be arresting me, doing all types of crazy things just 'cause we wanna have a good time.'
When was the last White Party?
The last White Party was in Beverly Hills in 2009. Combs spoke about bringing it back in 2018, but it now looks like his White Parties will remain solely in the past.