Who Are Diddy’s Parents? Meet Melvin Earl Combs and Janice Combs Amid Rapper’s Legal Battle

Sean “Diddy” Combs was born in Harlem, New York, to parents Melvin Earl Combs and Janice Combs (née Smalls). The rapper’s father died when he was a toddler, and Diddy has opened up about Melvin’s past as a drug dealer. Meanwhile, his mother spoke out three weeks after Diddy was arrested on sex trafficking and racketeering charges. He has denied all wrongdoing and maintained his innocence, and Janice asked for her son to have a chance to prove it. Her statement led many people to want to know more about Janice, Melvin and Diddy’s upbringing.

Who Was Diddy’s Dad, Melvin Earl Combs?

Melvin served in the U.S. Air Force. He was also a known associate of convicted New York drug lord Frank Lucas and said to be the kingpin’s driver. Melvin was shot to death at 33 years old in 1972 while sitting in his car on Central Park West, allegedly during a drug deal gone wrong. Diddy was only 3 years old at the time of his father’s death.

The Bad Boy Entertainment founder opted not to publicly discuss his father for many years, but he finally spoke about Melvin in a 2013 video for Revolt TV titled “Confessions: Diddy Opens Up About His Father, Melvin Combs.”

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“Being that my father was killed when I was 3 years old, I don’t have a lot of memories of my father,” Diddy said. “They say you can’t miss something you never had, but that’s only a little ways right. There’s definitely been times as I’ve gotten older that I’ve missed my father — his presence — not being here … There’s things that you would ask your father. There’s also things that you would celebrate with him that would make him proud.”

Diddy called Melvin a “hustler” and a “drug dealer,” which taught him “early in life that there’s only two ways out of that dead-end jail. It made me work even harder.”

“Sometimes you can’t just answer why things happen, but I definitely think the route that I went on — staying out of the streets and hitting my books and trying to be somebody — I think he played a role in that. I have his hustler’s mentality, his hustler’s spirit, his drive, his determination, his swag,” Diddy concluded. “He’s gonna be on my mind a lot today. My father’s name was Melvin Combs and I’m Melvin’s son, Sean Combs.”

Who Is Diddy’s Mom, Janice Smalls Combs?

After his dad’s death, Diddy was raised by his mom in Mount Vernon, New York. She worked as a model before moving on to a job as a teaching assistant to provide for her son and his sister, Keisha Combs.

Diddy’s Mom Speaks Out Amid Her Son’s Legal Battle

Diddy was arrested in a New York hotel room on sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution charges on September 16, 2024. An unsealed indictment obtained by In Touch claimed that the “I’ll Be Missing You” rapper abused, threatened and coerced women and others around him for decades to “fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation and conceal his conduct.”

The record producer pleaded not guilty to the charges and is set to remain behind bars at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn until his trial.

Janice broke her silence on her son’s arrest in a statement from her attorney, Natlie G. Figgers, on October 6, 2024.

“I come to you today as a mother that is devastated and profoundly saddened by the allegations made against my son, Sean Combs. It is heartbreaking to see my son judged not for the truth, but for a narrative created out of lies,” the statement read, according to Us Weekly. “To bear witness [sic] what seems to be like a public lynching of my son before he has had the opportunity to prove his innocence is a pain too unbearable to put into words.”

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Janice added that her son “deserves to have this day in court, to finally share his side, and to prove his innocence.”

The mom of two admitted that she was “not here to portray [her] son as perfect because he is not,” but noted that Diddy “has made mistakes in his past, as we all have.”

“My son may not have been entirely truthful about certain things, such as denying he has ever gotten violent with an ex-girlfriend when the hotel’s surveillance showed otherwise,” she continued, referring to the 2016 hotel surveillance footage that resurfaced in May 2024 and showed Diddy apparently physically assaulting ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura.

Diddy apologized for his actions after the video was released. The video came to light after Cassie sued the rapper in November 2023 for sexual assault and physical abuse that allegedly took place throughout their 10-year relationship. He denied the allegations, and the lawsuit was settled.

“Sometimes, the truth and a lie become so closely intertwined that it becomes terrifying to admit one part of the story, especially when that truth is outside the norm or is too complicated to be believed,” Janice continued. “This is why I believe my son’s civil legal team opted to settle the ex-girlfriend’s lawsuit instead of contesting it until the end, resulting in a ricochet effect as the federal government used this decision against my son by interpreting it as an admission of guilt.”

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The former model added that Diddy wasn’t necessarily “guilty of the repulsive allegations and the grave charges leveled against him” just because he wasn’t “entirely straightforward about one issue.”

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“Many individuals who were wrongfully convicted and later exonerated had their freedom taken from them not because they were guilty of the crimes they were accused of, but because they didn’t fit the image of what this society considers to be a ‘good person,’” Janice said. “Watching the world make jokes and laugh at my son’s life crumbling before our eyes is something I can never forget. It is truly agonizing to watch the world turn against my son so quickly and easily over lies and misconceptions, without ever hearing his side or affording him the opportunity to present his side.”

Janice claimed that the allegations made against her son were “motivated by those seeking a financial gain, and not justice.” She alleged that his accusers saw “how quickly” his case with Cassie was settled and believed that they could easily get away with a similar result “by falsely accusing my son.”

“False allegations of sexual assault thwart true victims of sexual violence from getting the justice they deserve,” Janice said, noting that “the federal government is now using these lies to prosecute my son” and the “injustice has been unbearable for our family.”

She concluded, “The worst part of this ordeal is watching my beloved son be stripped of his dignity, not for what he did, but for what people choose to believe about him. I beg you to think about those who have been wrongfully persecuted, to remember that not everyone who has made mistakes in life deserves to have their entire existence judged by a single action or a few mistakes. My son is not the monster they have painted him to be, and he deserves the chance to tell his side.”