Sean Combs' defense seeks to show rapper and Casandra Ventura were a couple in love

Text messages and emails shown by the defense in Sean "Diddy" Combs’ racketeering and sex trafficking trial Thursday seem to portray Casandra Ventura, his girlfriend of 11 years, as an eager participant in the sexual benders or "freak-offs" prosecutors claim she was forced into.

"I’m always ready to freak off lolol," she texted him in 2008, two years into their relationship, one of several texts she read aloud on the witness stand while under cross-examination by Combs' lawyers.

Prosecutors charge that Combs used his vast music, fashion and liquor empire to force several women, including Ventura, to have sex with male prostitutes in hotel rooms as he watched, and then threatened to release videos of the sex acts if they did not continue to participate. Combs has denied the charges, and his lawyers contend that, while he could be violent, the sex was consensual and his actions were not criminal.

He faces life in prison if convicted in the five-count indictment on racketeering, sex trafficking and transporting male escorts for the purpose of prostitution.

Over two days of direct questioning by prosecutors in federal court in Manhattan, Ventura, who goes by the professional name Cassie, broke down in tears three times, recollecting the decade-long relationship she had with Combs beginning when she was 19 and he was 37.

On Thursday, Ventura, who is eight months pregnant, appeared relaxed and nonchalant while under cross-examination as she read cooing text and email messages between her and the rap entrepreneur in which they both expressed their love for each other.

Defense lawyer Anna Estevao sought to counter the picture portrayed by prosecutors over the past two days, in which Ventura said she went through grueling sex marathons with a parade of strangers in dark hotel rooms then was threatened and beaten by Combs when she tired of the ordeal.

But in text messages, she and Combs sounded lovestruck.

"I looooove you so much I could cry," he told her in 2008 when he was still married to Kim Porter, the mother of some of Combs' children.

"I love you too, Pop pop," she responded, calling him by a pet name, the same name she called her grandfather.

Ventura also read from text messages detailing explicit acts she promised to perform in front of him. She talked about making preparations for a freak-off, buying candles, her outfits and asking him if she could pick anything up for him.

"I can’t wait to watch you," he said in text messages read in court.

"Me too," she responded in a text.

Defense lawyers have argued that Combs could be violent and demanding, but he was a man with a large sexual appetite who had many girlfriends and lived a "swinging" partner-swapping lifestyle.

Ventura admitted that she had also watched him have sex with another woman.

In December 2009, he sent her an email saying "I wanna be nasty for you" and more R-rated comments.

But her response poured cold water on racy talk. She wanted to discuss where the relationship was going.

"I want to give you the same," she began, before becoming more sober. "I just think that I have to trust you beyond it just being sexual. Do you know what I mean? In order for me to be more open with the things we do in bed, I need to feel safe, like home. Like this is my husband, and this is THE ONLY man that will ever have this aggressive/sexual side of me.”

She testified about Combs supporting her career, even after she flopped a few times during public performances.

"After it happened, I spoke to him about it and we had a YouTube video where he said everyone makes mistakes and we’re moving on from it," Ventura testified.

Estevao also asked Ventura about her own infidelities, times she made up a public appearance so she could travel to Miami to be with Combs.

In other emails she read in court, Ventura speculated that Combs had wanted to be with her best friend instead of her and seemed anxious to plan a future with him.

"I don’t want to rush things, but I can’t help but sit with you and dream up a beautiful future together, who knew I’d fall so fast?" she wrote. "You make me feel like I can do anything ... and that’s real."

She appeared determined to make him happy.

"I really do love you and just hope to be able to learn what it is you want in a woman and be able to give it to you," she said in the email that made her laugh on the witness stand because it "sounds like a journal entry."

Under questioning from the prosecution, she said her self-esteem suffered during her decade with Combs, but on Thursday, she admitted that he also built up her ego.

"He’s got that energy," she said. "That inspiring energy."

Ventura also said Combs was a frequent drug user, taking MDMA, GHB and cocaine, but mostly downers.

"I would say he was an addict," she said, "because he told me."

Earlier in the week, prosecutors showed a surveillance video of Combs kicking Ventura in the hallway of a Los Angeles hotel after a sex party.

Estevao suggested that Combs had take a bad dose of GHB, causing him to become violent.

"They were a bad batch, right?" the lawyer asked.

Ventura said she didn’t know.

Her cross-examination continues Friday.