Diddy’s childhood friends detail his youth in a new documentary

New documentary Diddy: The Making of a Bad Boy features interviews with people who knew Sean “Diddy” Combs as a young man, and some of them offered theories about how he became the person he is today.

Tim Pattersonwho grew up with Diddy, 55, in Mount Vernon, New York, drew a clear line between the man born Sean Combs and the one who became known as Puffy, Brother Love and other names.

“I know Sean, not Diddy, not Daddy Love. I don’t know these people, I don’t know them, I swear I don’t know them, I’ve never met these people,” Patterson said in the film, which premieres at the Peacock on Tuesday, January 14. “I have to tell people what they don’t know about his childhood.”

Ron Lawrencewho was the rapper’s classmate at Howard University, said Diddy always knew he wanted to work in the music business, even at a young age. (He dropped out of college after his sophomore year.)

“He would tell you ‘I’m going to be the biggest record producer in the world,'” Lawrence recalled. “He already knew what he wanted at Howard University.”

Now, however, Diddy’s legacy has been tarnished by his arrest in September 2024 on charges of sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation for prostitution. He denied the charges against him and pleaded not guilty to all charges.

“This documentary recycles and perpetuates the same lies and conspiracy theories that have been thrown against Mr. Combs for months,” a rep for the mogul said. Us Weekly before the release of the film. “It’s disappointing to see NBC and Peacock wallowing in the same mud as unethical tabloid journalists. By providing a platform for proven liars and opportunists to make false criminal allegations, the documentary is irresponsible journalism of the worst kind.”

Diddy: The Making of a Bad Boy premiering at the Peacock Tuesday, January 14. Keep reading for the biggest revelations about Diddy’s youth from Diddy: The Making of a Bad Boy.

His father died young

When Diddy was little, his father, Melvin Combswas shot and killed while sitting in his car in New York. “Sean must have found out about his dad through other guys who showed up at the time,” Patterson recalled, adding that he didn’t know how Melvin died.

According to Diddy’s former bodyguard Gene DealHowever, Melvin’s death was not a random act of violence. “His father was selling (drugs) to an undercover cop, a New York City cop, and he was giving the cop information,” Deal claims in the documentary. “His father was killed for betraying them.”

Gucci watches and private school

Patterson claimed to be Diddy’s mother, Janice Combsshe inherited money after her husband’s death, which allowed her and her children to move to a nicer neighborhood in Mount Vernon. “I look at him as: ‘Oh my God, this guy is different,’ Patterson said, reflecting on a photo of himself and Diddy as children. “He’s the one in the hat. You can see that she has jewelry on, she has rings, she has bracelets. This is a 4-year-old in a 30-year-old’s closet.”

Rich Parkeranother friend, recalled that Diddy was always dressed in a great way, even as a child. “He was part of a dance and fashion crew called the 7 Up Crew,” he explained. “These people would go around New York, fight with people in dance, fashion. He was also one of the first kids I knew who had a Gucci watch.”

Lee Davis (aka DJ EZ Lee) said he met Diddy in Little League, but knew he went to private school. “He had the best of everything,” Patterson explained. “This kid is rich, he was seen as rich.”

‘Always bullied’

According to Patterson, Diddy’s wealth made him a target for elementary school bullies. “Sean was a different kid,” he claimed. “Sean was a kid that people could smell was not tough. Sean was always bullied.”

Deal claimed that Diddy had a hard time fitting in at first and was roughed up by the guys in his Same Gang who didn’t like the fact that young Combs wasn’t from Harlem. After that incident, however, Deal noted, “Puff was in the same gang.”

His mom’s parties

As an adult, Diddy has developed a reputation organizing wild, lavish partiesand Patterson believes he inherited that trait from Janice. “Because Sean didn’t have a dad, he only had a mom. Sean’s house, our house, there was always something going on,” Patterson claimed. “For the weekend, you had fun at homeand we did that often. He was around all kinds of alcohol, he was around cooling smoke. He was around drug addicts, around lesbians, around homosexuals, around pimps and thugs. It was just the one who was in our house.”

Patterson went on to claim that it wasn’t hard to find people hanging out in the house. “At night, it wouldn’t be a coincidence to go into one of the bedrooms and have a couple of naked people there,” he claimed. »That’s what we were instructed to do. That’s what they fed us. Has it desensitized us? I’m sure it is. Were we aware of that? Not. It was only Saturday night.”

Davis, for his part, said he had never been to a party hosted by Janice, but had heard stories about them. “She had, like, a little group of girls that would come over, and she made sure everyone was comfortable,” he recalled.

Producers noted that Janice did not respond to their request for comment.

Busy looking for a job

Before his career took off in earnest, Diddy did everything he could to get on the radar of employees at Uptown Records, which he founded in 1986. Andre Harrell. “Sean would appear in the strangest places – at Heavy Don the doorstep, he’d show up in Uptown, he’d show up at parties,” Patterson said. “Anything to get the attention of the big heads.”

Parker claimed to have heard young Diddy once sleep outside Harrell’s car to get his attention. In the end, that effort paid off, because by 1990 he had gained seniority.