Cheyenne Roundtree, an investigative reporter at Rolling Stone, began researching Sean Combs following a civil lawsuit filed by his ex-partner Cassie Ventura in November 2023. The lawsuit alleged that Combs had subjected Ventura to physical violence, sexual assault, and drug coercion over their decade-long relationship. When Combs and his legal team initially denied the allegations, they quickly settled the case for $20 million. However, additional lawsuits from other women followed within days, prompting Roundtree to conduct a comprehensive investigation spanning three years.
Roundtree’s reporting uncovered historical documentation that had been largely lost to time—including archived stories, interviews, and police reports that predated widespread internet accessibility. She interviewed people who had known Combs across different periods of his life, from his childhood in Harlem through his career as a music producer, record label founder, and business executive, to his current incarceration. The investigation ultimately contributed to a federal investigation that resulted in Combs’s indictment. At age 56, Combs is currently serving a 50-month sentence related to transporting people across state lines for prostitution.
Roundtree’s findings became the basis for her book, Bad Boy for Life, which examines recurring patterns and behaviors throughout Combs’s life. The work traces his origins in Harlem, where his father was killed when Combs was a toddler, and follows his upbringing in Mount Vernon. During his time at Howard University, where he studied business, accounts from former classmates described jealous and abusive behavior—details that stood in contrast to Combs’s own public characterizations of romantic relationships.
Roundtree’s research identifies thematic connections between Combs’s past behavior and allegations made by multiple women in recent years. The investigation reveals what she describes as a pattern of conduct that manifested from his youth and persisted through various reinventions of his public persona, including his 2017 attempt to rebrand himself as “Love” or “Brother Love.” The book presents a comprehensive timeline documenting how cumulative actions and behaviors contributed to his eventual legal consequences.
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