A Young Usher Lived with Diddy and Witnessed Wild Parties — Recalled How 'There Were Girls Everywhere'

Trigger Warning: This article contains themes of sexual abuse that some readers may find distressing.

Sometimes in the music world, you get some peculiar mentor setups. One such case involved young R&B star Usher and hip-hop mogul Sean 'Diddy' Combs. When Usher was just 14 years old, music executive L.A. Reid made a bold decision that would shape the young singer's career and life. Reid had signed Usher to his LaFace Records label in 1993 and faced a challenge after releasing Usher's first single, Call Me a Mack. He couldn't find another song that felt right for the young talent. That's when he turned to his friend Diddy for help.

In his memoir, Reid explains his thinking: "I was turning him over to the wildest party guy in the country at an age when I still needed to get his mother's permission, but he went to New York for almost a year." Reid wanted Diddy to teach Usher some "swagger" and give him "some of your flavor." He hoped this experience would make Usher more "edgy" and appealing to audiences. Usher lived with Diddy in New York for almost a year and during that time he saw a lot of things that just didn’t make sense to him as a teenager. In a 2016 interview on The Howard Stern Show, Usher recalled his time with Diddy and said: "I got a chance to see some things ... I don't know if I could indulge and even understand what I was looking at."

He added, "It was pretty wild. It was crazy. There were very curious things taking place and I didn't necessarily understand it." In an earlier interview with Rolling Stone in 2004, Usher was more specific. He said Diddy introduced him to "a totally different set of s**t — sex, specifically." The young Usher found himself in surprising situations. "There was always girls around," he recalled. "You'd open a door and see somebody doing it, or several people in a room having an orgy. You never knew what was going to happen," as per Daily Mail. 

Looking back, Usher has mixed feelings about his time with Diddy. When asked if he would let his own children have a similar experience, he responded emphatically: "Hell no!" Reid, too, had doubts about his decision. In his memoir, he admits, "I didn't know whether I was being irresponsible or having an epiphany. I would never be sure flavor camp worked until he came back."

Reid felt Usher was mature enough to handle the experience despite the risks. "Usher was fifteen years old, but nothing about him ever seemed juvenile," he wrote. The story has gained new attention recently due to legal troubles surrounding P Diddy. Diddy was arrested on serious charges, including racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking. He has denied all allegations and pleaded not guilty. He has been denied bail twice since his arrest, even though he offered up his Miami mansion as part of a $50 million bond, as per Business Insider.

If you are being subjected to sexual assault, or know of anyone who is, please call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800.656.HOPE (4673).