GothicAngel
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What is the name of your state? New York
'This is not about money.
This is about me as a father'
By JOANNA MOLLOY
DAILY NEWS COLUMNIST
Sean Combs was ordered to pay son Justin's mother $250,000 annually in child support.
As he prepared to celebrate Father's Day, music mogul Sean (P. Diddy) Combs lashed out at a court ruling that ordered him to pay more than a quarter of a million dollars a year in child support. The 35-year-old Bad Boy Records founder - and one of the leaders of the hip hop revolution - was left stunned at the court's decision, the highest amount of child support in New York State history.
In an emotional interview, Combs said he was outraged at the decision - and the motives behind the court case - that led to the huge award.
"This is not about the money," Combs said. "This is about me as a father.
"And this is not about my son. My child is being used. There's a scam that's going on."
In April, four judges of the state Appellate Division ordered Combs to pay more than $250,000 a year to fashion stylist Misa Hylton-Brim, mother of his beloved 11-year-old son Justin.
Combs' lawyer Stephen Gassman filed an immediate appeal in the state Court of Appeals. But the music mogul cannot contain his anger.
"To go and have a judge order me to do it as if I've been a bad father is unfair," he said. "A court doesn't have to tell me what to do to support my child. It's disrespectful.
"It's saying I don't take care of my kids. To put me in this position, when I feel I've even been a shining example as a father ... it's ludicrous. It's ridiculous.
"It's so insulting. I know I'm talking very passionately.
"But I take care of all my children. It's endless. It's priceless. Whatever they need," he added.
Combs has another son. But he says that in Justin's case, he has been a doting father.
"If anything, he has too much," he says. "It's whatever he needs and above. He goes to the best private schools. He gets a tutor five days a week.
"He does every extracurricular activity. I bring him to St. Tropez."
Combs says that he has been a good dad to all the children in his life.
"I give to all my sons - and to other children, too," he said.
"If Justin gets Christmas presents, they all get Christmas presents. If he flies with me on a trip, they fly with me.
"But when you have these ambulance-chasing lawyers who have publicists and do photo shoots in magazines saying, 'This is the man who's going to beat Puffy,' for them it's about my money," he said.
Combs was no doubt referring to Brett Kimmel, the Raoul Felder protégé who fought Mick Jagger and Mike Tyson for child support and at whom Combs allegedly lunged across a table. Kimmel was featured in a Details article last summer entitled, "The lawyer who's going to make P Diddy pay."
Kimmel told The News: "Contrary to Puff's paranoid conspiracy theories, I am not the (District Attorney) Tom Sneddon to his Michael Jackson."
"To me, this is about my son. My son has been fully supported," Combs said.
"This money is not going to be spent on Justin. This is about somebody wanting another car or another piece of jewelry, some new coats.
"And I'm going to fight it to the highest court there is."
Combs says that despite the acrimony, he still loves Hylton-Brim.
"I'll always love her," he said. "She was my high school sweetheart.
"But she did this two months after she separated from her husband. She didn't do it when Justin was 7, 8, 9. Why not then?"
Hylton-Brim could not be reached for comment.
Combs has another son, 7- year-old Christian, by model Kim Porter, and he has virtually adopted Porter's son Quincy, 13.
Combs separated from Porter when he became involved with Jennifer Lopez. But Porter and he have since reunited, though he continues to pay monthly child-support payments of $12,000.
"She pays school tuition out of that," Combs says.
The soft-spoken businessman and Hylton-Brim signed a contract when Justin was a toddler that he would pay her upward of $5,000 a month in cash - but he claims he also voluntarily paid her $120,000 a year for all his son's other expenses, including tuition, medical fees, dental bills and more.
He also gave Hylton-Brim a $50,000 down payment to buy a house "because I want the mothers of my children to be taken care of," he explains.
He thinks judges erred when they voided the contract, and it's the basis of his appeal.
Combs lost his own father at age 3 when he was murdered in a drug-related shooting.
He told the Daily News it created "an emptiness" in his childhood, nevertheless filled by his mother, Janice.
He recalls that it was drilled into him that if he ever had his own babies, he would have to be a responsible father.
"She told me if you're going to have children, you have to be there for them. Children need a father figure there for guidance. Mothers will attest to that. It's the biggest responsibility in the world."
But it's also, Combs says, his greatest joy. "It's a bigger blessing than any award, than anything in music, any amount of money. To see my kids get good grades, do well in sports, to have such good manners, to be nice kids, it's made me feel a little older, but at the same time it's given me a true understanding of the meaning of life.
"It's not the money you give. It's the time you spend with them. You gotta spend the time. It's priceless. I spend the weekends and all my trips, I take them on tour. We spend the summers together.
"I coach my son's football team. I go to parent-teacher meetings. I'm so involved in all my sons' lives.
"You know what? I love when they kiss me. I tell them, when they get older they'd better not try to act cool in front of their friends and not kiss me. No matter how old they are, they're still gonna have to kiss me.
"God put me on Earth to be a father. It's a bigger blessing than any award, than anything in music, any amount of money."
Originally published on June 20, 2005
'This is not about money.
This is about me as a father'
By JOANNA MOLLOY
DAILY NEWS COLUMNIST
Sean Combs was ordered to pay son Justin's mother $250,000 annually in child support.
As he prepared to celebrate Father's Day, music mogul Sean (P. Diddy) Combs lashed out at a court ruling that ordered him to pay more than a quarter of a million dollars a year in child support. The 35-year-old Bad Boy Records founder - and one of the leaders of the hip hop revolution - was left stunned at the court's decision, the highest amount of child support in New York State history.
In an emotional interview, Combs said he was outraged at the decision - and the motives behind the court case - that led to the huge award.
"This is not about the money," Combs said. "This is about me as a father.
"And this is not about my son. My child is being used. There's a scam that's going on."
In April, four judges of the state Appellate Division ordered Combs to pay more than $250,000 a year to fashion stylist Misa Hylton-Brim, mother of his beloved 11-year-old son Justin.
Combs' lawyer Stephen Gassman filed an immediate appeal in the state Court of Appeals. But the music mogul cannot contain his anger.
"To go and have a judge order me to do it as if I've been a bad father is unfair," he said. "A court doesn't have to tell me what to do to support my child. It's disrespectful.
"It's saying I don't take care of my kids. To put me in this position, when I feel I've even been a shining example as a father ... it's ludicrous. It's ridiculous.
"It's so insulting. I know I'm talking very passionately.
"But I take care of all my children. It's endless. It's priceless. Whatever they need," he added.
Combs has another son. But he says that in Justin's case, he has been a doting father.
"If anything, he has too much," he says. "It's whatever he needs and above. He goes to the best private schools. He gets a tutor five days a week.
"He does every extracurricular activity. I bring him to St. Tropez."
Combs says that he has been a good dad to all the children in his life.
"I give to all my sons - and to other children, too," he said.
"If Justin gets Christmas presents, they all get Christmas presents. If he flies with me on a trip, they fly with me.
"But when you have these ambulance-chasing lawyers who have publicists and do photo shoots in magazines saying, 'This is the man who's going to beat Puffy,' for them it's about my money," he said.
Combs was no doubt referring to Brett Kimmel, the Raoul Felder protégé who fought Mick Jagger and Mike Tyson for child support and at whom Combs allegedly lunged across a table. Kimmel was featured in a Details article last summer entitled, "The lawyer who's going to make P Diddy pay."
Kimmel told The News: "Contrary to Puff's paranoid conspiracy theories, I am not the (District Attorney) Tom Sneddon to his Michael Jackson."
"To me, this is about my son. My son has been fully supported," Combs said.
"This money is not going to be spent on Justin. This is about somebody wanting another car or another piece of jewelry, some new coats.
"And I'm going to fight it to the highest court there is."
Combs says that despite the acrimony, he still loves Hylton-Brim.
"I'll always love her," he said. "She was my high school sweetheart.
"But she did this two months after she separated from her husband. She didn't do it when Justin was 7, 8, 9. Why not then?"
Hylton-Brim could not be reached for comment.
Combs has another son, 7- year-old Christian, by model Kim Porter, and he has virtually adopted Porter's son Quincy, 13.
Combs separated from Porter when he became involved with Jennifer Lopez. But Porter and he have since reunited, though he continues to pay monthly child-support payments of $12,000.
"She pays school tuition out of that," Combs says.
The soft-spoken businessman and Hylton-Brim signed a contract when Justin was a toddler that he would pay her upward of $5,000 a month in cash - but he claims he also voluntarily paid her $120,000 a year for all his son's other expenses, including tuition, medical fees, dental bills and more.
He also gave Hylton-Brim a $50,000 down payment to buy a house "because I want the mothers of my children to be taken care of," he explains.
He thinks judges erred when they voided the contract, and it's the basis of his appeal.
Combs lost his own father at age 3 when he was murdered in a drug-related shooting.
He told the Daily News it created "an emptiness" in his childhood, nevertheless filled by his mother, Janice.
He recalls that it was drilled into him that if he ever had his own babies, he would have to be a responsible father.
"She told me if you're going to have children, you have to be there for them. Children need a father figure there for guidance. Mothers will attest to that. It's the biggest responsibility in the world."
But it's also, Combs says, his greatest joy. "It's a bigger blessing than any award, than anything in music, any amount of money. To see my kids get good grades, do well in sports, to have such good manners, to be nice kids, it's made me feel a little older, but at the same time it's given me a true understanding of the meaning of life.
"It's not the money you give. It's the time you spend with them. You gotta spend the time. It's priceless. I spend the weekends and all my trips, I take them on tour. We spend the summers together.
"I coach my son's football team. I go to parent-teacher meetings. I'm so involved in all my sons' lives.
"You know what? I love when they kiss me. I tell them, when they get older they'd better not try to act cool in front of their friends and not kiss me. No matter how old they are, they're still gonna have to kiss me.
"God put me on Earth to be a father. It's a bigger blessing than any award, than anything in music, any amount of money."
Originally published on June 20, 2005
