Sean “Diddy” Combs has shared the final words Kim Porter ever said to him in a new interview.
Combs says Porter was a doting mother to their children and a source of comfort and guidance in his own life even now, almost six months since her sudden death.
Porter and Combs shared three children together and dated for 13 years before going their separate ways in 2007. Even when they weren’t together as a couple, they still remained close and committed to their children.
In November 2018, Porter died of pneumonia at the age of 47.
“She was unforgettable,” Combs recalled in a new cover story with Essence magazine. “That day turned my world upside down. Three days before she passed, she wasn’t feeling well.
“She had the flu, and she sent the kids over to my house so they wouldn’t get sick,” Combs told the publication. “One night I was checking on her, and she was like, ‘Puffy, take care of my babies.’ She actually said that to me before she died.”
The two share two twin girls, Jessie James and D’Lila, both 12 years old; and a son, Christian Combs, 21. Combs also helped raise Porter’s 27-year-old son Quincy from her previous relationship with singer Al B. Sure!
After her sudden death, Combs, 49, “jumped into mommy mode” to make sure their children wouldn’t learn of her death from social media, he told Essence. He even made sure their son’s phone was disconnected as he was on a plane at the time so that he wouldn’t accidentally read about it while he was flying.
“I was scared, and I was crying out to God—and to her—and almost immediately Kim’s voice kicked in, and I could hear her saying, ‘Make sure you take care of my babies,'” he said.
“Every time Kim and I talked, it was about the kids,” he told Essence. “It was what she cared about the most. We’d check in as friends, of course, but we never had a conversation that didn’t include the kids.”
No Longer a “Part-Time Father”
Combs told the publication that her death changed him in more ways than one.
“My family was always first, but there are countless times when I chose work over everything else,” he told the publication. “But every day I can hear her telling me to go and spend some time with the kids and make sure everybody’s all right, like she would do.”
“I’m just a lot more present, and, most important, now my kids come before anything else in my life,” he added.
Almost six months ago, with the loss of Kim Porter, @Diddy‘s life changed forever. “I would say I’m putting in work to fill shoes that are almost impossible to fill.” In our May issue, the father of six opens up about life after the tragedy. https://t.co/vBhBNTik9j pic.twitter.com/CCr6K0l4Jw
— ESSENCE (@Essence) April 23, 2019
Combs also praised the mothers of his other children as well as family and friends for all coming together to help raise the children, and said, “It takes a village.”
He credited Porter with that change.
“We’re doing really well because her passing has changed us and made us love each other more. I’m happy to say that, because at first I really didn’t know how we would be doing,” he told Essence magazine. “We wouldn’t be able to love any other way. Her spirit wouldn’t let us.”
Despite that, Combs revealed he still worries about how the children are doing.
“One day I asked them how are they being so strong. They said that, in a weird way, their mother had taught them how to deal with death,” he told the publication.
“Now, ironically, they are teaching me how to deal with Kim’s passing,” he added.
