Sean “Diddy” Combs is setting the record straight about his relationship with one of his most famous exes. According to the rumor mill, Jada Pinkett Smith and husband Will Smith tried to put the moves on Jennifer Lopez, propositioning the singer while she was still in a relationship with Diddy back in the late ’90s. It sounds like a bit of Hollywood lore, but is it actually true? Diddy is settling the debate for once and for all.
The question came up during Diddy's interview with Jimmy Kimmel.
Jimmy saw his chance to ask Diddy this burning question when he stopped by his show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, this week.
“I saw a guy on the internet the other day who said he used to be your security guard, who said when you were dating J.Lo, Will Smith and Jada tried to pick her up on a threesome and you were going to beat up Will Smith. Is that true?” Jimmy asked, referring to Diddy’s former bodyguard Gene Deal’s interview on podcast The Art of Dialogue.
Diddy had the perfect response.
Diddy didn’t respond right away, instead looking at Kimmel for a minute. “This show has gotten crazier since the last time I was here,” he said. “No, you really heard that?”
“Yeah, I watched it on the internet. You’re telling me I can’t believe everything I read?” Jimmy joked, to which Diddy replied, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Jimmy, I thought we was friends.”
Security guard Gene Deal tells a different story.
On the podcast, Gene explained that he was at a birthday party with Diddy and Lopez when the supposed incident happened, and that the two couples were seated with Matt Damon and J.Lo’s future husband, Ben Affleck.
“[Diddy] stood up. And when he stood up, he walked and did his arms a certain kind of way like [crossing them],” Gene said. “I go over towards him and he said to me, ‘Yo, I think Will and Jada are trying to scoop up Jennifer. I want you to stay close ’cause I’m a snuff him.'”
Ultimately there's no way to prove that Gene's story is true.
Gene found the entire situation laughable because of the significant height difference between Will and Diddy. He explained that he stood in such a way that if things did escalate, Will could get “two or three punches back in,” before he intervened.
“That s— was funny,” he said. “He thought that Jada and Will were coming on too strong to Jennifer, making advances.”
More from CafeMom: Jada Pinkett Smith Reveals That Her Separation From Will Smith Ended After 2022 Oscars
Jada and Will being in an open relationship was a longstanding rumor.
During the press tour for her memoir Worthy, Jada addressed the yearslong rumors that she and her husband were in an open relationship.
“I think where that got confusing is that as time went on, there were different stages in my marriage where Will and I decided we were not together,” she said in an interview with People, adding that the public wasn’t always privy to that information.
“There’ve been several of those where we’ve gone and lived our separate lives. So I think within that is where people might’ve thought that, ‘Oh, they must be having an open relationship.'”
