When Elisabeth Ovesen was in her 20s, she went by a different name.
Known in the hip-hop industry as Karrine Steffans, she started her career as a model before going on to star in over 20 music videos as a dancer. She worked with LL Cool J and Mystikal, along with controversial singer R. Kelly.
In her later years, Steffans shed light on her negative experiences in the industry in her popular Vixen book series, beginning with Confessions of a Video Vixen in 2005.
In the books, she opened up about her romantic relationships with a bevy of famous men, including Jay-Z, DMX, Vin Diesel, Lil Wayne, Method Man, and even Bill Maher.
Steffans also had a brief relationship with Sean 'Diddy' Combs.
Fresh off a breakout role starring in Jay-Z's million-dollar music video for 'Hey Papi', Steffans was introduced to Diddy, then known as Puff Daddy. She claims that in February 2001, when she was just 22 years old, she was 'gifted' to Diddy, who had just broken up with Jennifer Lopez.
"In retrospect, I realised that I was given to him as a gift by another executive," Ovesen said in a recent interview with the Daily Beast.
She first encountered Diddy at a nightclub at 3am. "He asked who I was, and the men spoke for me," she recalled, referring to Murder Inc Record's boss Irv Gotti and rapper, Ja Rule.
"Right there in front of me, Diddy and Gotti made arrangements to send me to Diddy's house in one hour... It was four in the morning when I turned up to Diddy's home in my SUV. There were security guards in the driveway, all dressed in dark suits with their hands in front of them. They had been expecting me," she wrote in Confessions of a Video Vixen.
Ovesen wrote in her book that Gotti was known for 'sending' her to multiple men.
"The things that went on when Gotti and I were together are almost unimaginable to me now. But in the haze of drugs and liquor, it all seemed alright. I was being used over and over again. There was man after man, all friends and acquaintances of Gotti's," she wrote.
"I quickly became Gotti's showpiece. He would turn other people in the industry on to me. I was his party favour. Whenever there was anyone Gotti wanted to impress, he would send them to me and I'd take care of them."
At the time of their encounter, Diddy was "at the forefront of the million-dollar look," Ovesen remembers, so when she was asked to go to his house, she saw it as an opportunity.
"[Gotti] was like, 'Send her to my house,'" she recalled. "And that was it. I got the order to go to his house, and that was the first time he and I spent time."
In her book, she described her first sexual encounter with the music mogul. "After a few minutes, Diddy greeted me and led me to the nearest bedroom," she wrote.
"With that slight formality out of the way, Diddy and I spent the next 15 minutes engaging in the usual. After the experience, he said 'you're one of the best'. I said the same to him when in actuality, he was average."
At one of Diddy's notorious parties at his mansion on Miami's Star Island, Ovesen described an environment fueled by drugs and alcohol.
"You choose your pill, you take your champagne, and that's your vibe for the night," she told Daily Beast. "It's f**king intense."
In one moment from her book, Ovesen said that Diddy once warned the rapper Xzibit that she was the type of woman who would have you "on tape with fingers in your booty."
"That was so weird. It was so weird," says Ovesen. "And X[zibit] thought it was weird."
But the author wanted to make it clear that she didn't suffer abuse at the hands of Diddy. "I was not one of his victims," Ovesen told the Daily Beast. "And his victims deserve the space and time to discuss what happened in those rooms."
In response to the video of Diddy attacking his then-girlfriend Casandra 'Cassie' Ventura, she said she could recognise that behaviour.
Watch Diddy's 'apology' for attacking his ex-girlfriend. Post continues after video.
"It was very triggering. And I knew exactly what that was," says Ovesen.
"Men who hate women, men who hate who they are, who can't admit to their sexuality, who are pretending to be straight when they're not. And they hate women," says Ovesen.
"They don't love women. Most of them want to be women, and they can't, and they hate us. They beat us early and often."
Ovesen's interview comes as Diddy was arrested on September 16 on sex trafficking and racketeering charges. In a lawsuit, 120 additional accusers have since come forward with allegations.
In the years since her days fronting some of hip-hop's biggest music videos, Ovesen has dedicated her life to spreading awareness around the murkier side of the industry while empowering women to come forward.
"One thing about those tables is they're going to turn. And honestly, it's women who turn them," Ovesen told the Daily Beast.
"I have no message for men. My message is for women. More women need to tell their stories as loudly and often as possible. Trust me, you will survive, you will make it through, and you will come out stronger and vindicated in the end."
Feature image: Getty.