Diddy reveals he used Jennifer Lopez to get back at his ex

Diddy and Jennifer Lopez sparked a mass media frenzy when the two moguls dated each other at the turn of the century, but it turns out that the Bad Boy boss was using J-Lo to make his ex-girlfriend jealous.

Sean “Diddy” Combs, 55, and J-Lo, 55, were romantic partners from 1999-2001. Although they were media darlings and frequently photographed at lavish events around the country, the relationship fizzled right after the infamous shooting in a nightclub that involved former rapper Shyne.

Diddy wanted to make Kim Porter jealous

Turns out that Diddy was metaphorically dangling J-Lo out like fruit to entice former girlfriend Kim Porter to “come running after me.”

Diddy confessed to Essence magazine in an unearthed 2007 interview, “I thought, ‘I’ll test the waters, and hopefully Kim will see I’m serious and come running after me,’” Diddy is quoted at the time. 

Kim Porter said she knew Diddy was still in love with her

Porter, who also spoke to the magazine for the story, said she knew that the Diddy and J-Lo pairing was a charade for the cameras and to make her jealous. 

“I knew what was really going on. He was still in love with me,” Porter told Essence. 

By the time Diddy got with J-Lo at the end of the 1990s, Diddy had become accustomed to being catered to and fawned over by the public, the media, and industry contemporaries. Many would come to describe  Diddy as narcissistic and egomaniacal. And he admitted that he needed a woman who would cater to his whims and need to be pampered. When Porter failed to do that for him, Diddy ditched Porter for J-Lo, only to return to her a few years later.

“I’m used to applause when I walk in the room. And [Kim] was just too cool,” indicating that her composure and lack of awe towards him were “both attractive and challenging.”

Diddy continued, saying, “I would tell her, ‘I guess I’ll go be with someone else who’ll take care of me the way I want to be taken care of, who’ll be a little more aggressive,’” Diddy told Essence. 

Eventually, Diddy and Porter would reconnect in 2003, only to part ways permanently in 2007. They never married. 

Porter died from pneumonia at age 47 in 2018. They share four children: Justin Combs, 30, Christian “King” Combs, 26, and twins D’Lila and Jessie Combs, 18. Diddy legally adopted Quincy Brown, 33, whom Kim Porter had with singer Al B. Sure!