Tanika Ray, Diddy’s former backup dancer took to her Instagram to shed some light on why she never spoke up about some of the alleged ‘horrific’ things she experienced while working for Diddy.
“If I told my story in 1996 then What??” she captioned an Instagram post on Wednesday
Tanika Ray, a backup dancer for Sean “Diddy” Combs, revealed that she deliberately avoided him during her time working for him.
In a recent Instagram post, the 52-year-old former Extra host discussed her past interactions with the 54-year-old hip-hop star.
She also shared a video responding to journalist Touré’s claims that Diddy fired a male relative for refusing to “stay the night.”
According to PEOPLE she said:
“You know, we all have stories,” Ray said in the clip. “Seriously, we all have stories. Mine is horrific, and only five people know it. And I probably will never tell it but it’s since then I’ve been like, ‘Yup.’ And I’m also very intimately aware that if you tell your truth you become victimized over and over and over and over and over. And mind you, I then interviewed him many times.”
She added that she’s “got a lot of stories” because she’s “been in Hollywood for 25 years, maybe longer.”
“Maybe I’ll write a book one day, but it just is so traumatizing that women just want to live everyday and feel safe,” Ray added. “And when we revisit and revisit, we live in a state of victimhood, and nobody wants to live there. So for those who are like, ‘why didn’t you say something then?’ Because we just want to live, we want to be happy and we really want to forget the trauma. So there’s that.”
In the caption, Ray noted that
“women hold a lot in order to function every day in a man’s world.”
“Unfortch we can compartmentalization out pain and carry on,” she wrote. “We utilize the experience as a lesson and move differently. If I told my story in 1996 then What?? I just knew to avoid him at all costs. Yes I danced for him and kept my space. I was on the Vote or die airplane and kept my space. I interviewed him for his projects and kept my space. Nothing that is happening is surprising.”
Ray continued: “Ladies keep space to heal and move on is key. Gathering to incriminate is goals. But in this wild world with a broke azz system… our healing is priority. Shame on all those men that let this continue. Shame on me maybe for prioritizing my mental health some would say. But after working in a place that snatches souls… mine is in tact and of the light. I saved myself. Now if someone needs me to pile on my story, give me a call. But I think Cassie got it!!”
The “I’ll Be Missing You” artist is currently facing a number of sexual assault allegations.
In November 2023, his ex Casandra ‘Cassie’ Ventura filed a bombshell lawsuit against him, claiming that the music mogul raped and sex trafficked over 10 abusive years.
In her complaint filed against Combs in New York, she alleged that she was stuck in a decade-long “cycle of abuse, violence and sex trafficking” which included a 2018 rape after she tried to leave him, and several instances of domestic violence.
