Rapper Sean Combs admits beating his ex-girlfriend Cassie and says he is 'truly sorry'

Rapper Sean "Diddy" Combs has admitted beating his ex-girlfriend Cassie and said he is “truly sorry” describing his actions as “inexcusable”.

He spoke out after CNN released video of the attack in a hotel hallway in 2016. "I take full responsibility for my actions in that video. I was disgusted then when I did it. I'm disgusted now," the music mogul said in a video statement posted Sunday to Instagram and Facebook.

The video aired by CNN shows Combs, wearing only a white towel, punching and kicking the R&B singer who was his protege and longtime girlfriend at the time.

The footage also shows Combs shoving and dragging Cassie, and throwing a vase in her direction. Cassie, whose legal name is Cassandra Ventura, sued Combs in November over what she said was years of sexual, physical and emotional abuse.

The suit was settled the next day, but spurred intense scrutiny of Combs, with several more lawsuits filed in the following months, along with a federal criminal sex-trafficking investigation that led authorities to raid Combs' mansions in Los Angeles and Miami. He denied the allegations in the lawsuits, but neither he nor his representatives had responded to the newly emerged video before Sunday. "It's so difficult to reflect on the darkest times in your life, but sometimes you got to do that," Diddy says on the video.

He adds: “I went and I sought out professional help. I got into going to therapy, going to rehab. I had to ask God for his mercy and grace. I'm so sorry. But I'm committed to be a better man each and every day. I'm not asking for forgiveness. I'm truly sorry."