Why kim porter died?
The model and ex-girlfriend of Sean “Diddy” Combs died of lobar pneumonia, the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner announced Friday. The manner of death has been certified as natural.
Porter had been suffering from flu-like symptoms for days at the time of her death. The coroner’s report, obtained by The Blast, says that Porter’s bedroom contained bottles of water, sports drinks and Pedialyte on a nightstand, as well as a bowl of what appeared to be tomato soup.
An autopsy was completed on Porter a day after she was found dead in her home on Nov. 15, but her death certificate previously stated her cause of death as “deferred” and the manner of death as “pending investigation.” She was 47.
“On Nov. 16, an autopsy was performed on Porter. The cause of death was deferred pending additional tests. Porter’s body has since been released from our facility,” a spokesperson for the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner said in a statement released at the time.
Porter was buried in her hometown of Columbus, Georgia on Nov. 24. During the elaborate public funeral held at Cascade Hills Church, Combs, 49, arranged for Porter’s casket to travel in a carriage pulled by horses and acclaimed pastor T.D. Jakes officiated the service.
In an audio recording of Combs’ eulogy obtained by TMZ, Combs described his unique relationship with Porter and made a promise to their children: Christian, 20, twins D’Lila Star and Jessie James, 12 (his kids with Porter), Quincy, 27, (Porter’s son from her previous relationship with Al B. Sure! whom Combs helped raise) and Justin, 25, and Chance, 12 (Combs’ children with exes Misa Hylton-Brim and Sarah Chapman, respectively).
“I just want to say to my kids, Justin, Christian, D’Lila, Jessie, Chance and the other man in the house, Quincy: Your mother instilled in me this, and I pledge in front of everybody right now that I will always be there for you,” Combs said as the audience applauded. “I will always take care of you.”
Eliciting laughter and claps, Combs added, “To the girls especially, we about to enter some different type of times. I want you to be able to talk to me about everything, and I mean everything, and I mean everything.”
Shortly before Porter’s funeral began on Saturday, Combs honored Porter with an emotional note.
“Today we lay to rest our ANGEL,” he wrote on Twitter. “Her spirit lives on with us FOREVER!!! We thank you all for your prayers and support. You have no idea how much it means to us. We thank GOD for all of you.”
Insiders previously told PEOPLE that Combs, 49, held a memorial for Porter on Nov. 18 at his home in Bel Air, California. Among the 100 guests present were Kim Kardashian, Mary J. Blige, French Montana and Kourtney Kardashian.
RELATED VIDEO: Diddy’s Other Exes Pay Tribute to Kim Porter as They ‘Promise to Love and Protect’ Her Kids
On Nov. 15, officers were alerted after a woman was found unresponsive in Toluca Lake, California. She was declared dead at 11:40 a.m. local time. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office confirmed Porter’s death in a statement.
According to an emergency dispatch call posted by TMZ, the call came in as a cardiac arrest. A source also told the outlet that Porter had been suffering from pneumonia for weeks.
A rep for Combs confirmed Porter’s death to PEOPLE at the time, saying, “Sadly, I can confirm the passing of Kim Porter. I ask that you give the families privacy at this time.”
Combs broke his silence for the first time after Porter’s death on Nov. 17, writing on Instagram, “For the last three days I’ve been trying to wake up out of this nightmare. But I haven’t.”
“I don’t know what I’m going to do without you baby. I miss you so much. Today I’m going to pay tribute to you, I’m going to try and find the words to explain our unexplainable relationship,” he added. “We were more than best friends, we were more than soulmates. WE WERE SOME OTHER S—!! And I miss you so much. Super Black Love.”
The couple began dating in the ’90s and had their three children throughout their on-and-off-again relationship.
Combs and Porter broke up in 1999 and battled in court over child support for Christian; Combs also dated Jennifer Lopez for two years before he and Porter reconciled in 2003. They split for the final time in 2007.
The day after Porter’s death, a source told PEOPLE: “Diddy is devastated and shocked. He and Kim were still very close friends and co-parents even though their romantic relationship didn’t work. They were still a family.”
Another source close to Combs said that he is “is very much struggling.”
“This is the most awful, sad and unreal situation for him. It’s a nightmare,” the source continued. “He isn’t sleeping. He always had a very special relationship with Kim. Despite not being together romantically, he loved Kim. It was really true love, and he is hurting badly right now.”
In 2017, Combs told PEOPLE that his children are all “really kind, great people.”
“They got a lot of love in their heart,” he said. “I’m the luckiest man in the world.”
Actress and model Kim Porter, who passed away in her San Fernando Valley residence in November, was found to have died from lobar pneumonia, the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner determined.
Combs, who shares twin daughters Jessie and D'Lila, 12, and son Christian, 21, with Porter, told Essence magazine for their Mother's Day issue that one of the last conversations he had with the model and actress was about their family.
“Three days before she passed, she wasn’t feeling well. She had the flu, and she sent the kids over to my house so they wouldn’t get sick," the Grammy-winning rapper and producer said. "One night I was checking on her, and she was like, ‘Puffy, take care of my babies.’ She actually said that to me before she died.”
Porter, 47, died in her sleep Nov. 15 from lung infection, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner said in January. About a week before her death, Porter had complained of a sore throat which developed into a fever of 102 degrees, the coroner said.
She had tested negative for influenza and strep and was being treated with antibiotics, vitamins and a painkiller in the week of her death, according to authorities. On Nov. 14, Porter reported that her fever was back down to a normal 96 degrees. The coroner said the night before her death, Porter watched movies with her family.
Around 8:30 a.m. on Nov. 15, Porter's goddaughter checked on her and found her in her bed but assumed she was asleep. It wasn't until 11:30 when Porter's housemates realized she wasn't moving and called 911.
"It was later determined Porter died from lobar pneumonia," the coroner said. "The manner of death was certified as natural."
Combs, 49, told Essence that the day Porter died, his world was turned "upside down."
In addition to the couple's three children, Porter and Combs' blended family — which he called "unconventional" in Essence — includes his daughter, Chance, and son, Justin, from previous relationships, and her son, Quincy, from a previous relationship. The couple split up in 2007.
“Today we celebrate you on your rebirth day,” Diddy captioned a photo of Porter wearing a crown and fur vest. “I pray y’all get to experience a love like this. I miss you & love you forever @ladykp [Purple Heart].”
The Harlemite then followed up his post with a tribute video in which he spoke about first meeting Porter while he interned at Uptown Records, and also how he has gotten through his grief of losing her physically.
“Once upon a time, it was this young man from Harlem that met this beautiful young lady from Columbus, Georgia. I’m talking about, this chick was the coolest, most graceful, most ghetto, most beautiful, most elegant, but most importantly, most loving person that I ever met,” he said.
“She used to work at the front desk at Uptown and I was an intern at Uptown. I would walk through every morning, I just couldn’t wait to see her face! She was at the front desk. I would never smile ’cause I was from New York, you know what I’m saying? She was like, ‘Boy, if I can’t make you smile, can’t nobody make you smile.’ And she ain’t never lied and I’ve been smiling ever since.”
Speaking on how he has moved through the grieving process he said, “I wanna talk to a lot of people out there that’s going through grief. It feels like it ain’t gonna ever end. And it don’t end. But you start to realize, ‘it is what it is.’ This is God’s world and God’s timing and everything happens for a reason. And I’m a better man for it, my family’s tighter for it.”
He added, “There’s a such thing called collateral beauty; there’s beauty in negative and tragic situations. I just wanna tell ya’ll I’m a living testimony—me and my family—I’m here! Feel me? Give glory to God and I’m happy for every second that I had with her.
“Don’t worry about them not being there, they gon’ always be there. They not in the physical but they’re in the spiritual,” he said before showing off a huge silhouette statue placed in his garden in memory of Kim Porter.
Diddy’s perspective on grief has evolved since appearing on the premiere episode of Caresha Please with host Yung Miami, back in June. At that time, Diddy said that he cried for three months straight following Porter’s death.
“I would be just like walking around crying… just all the time,” he told Miami. “It just hurt so bad, you know what I’m saying? I was just like not moving. I had like isolated myself, you know? It was definitely… it was rough. I really could not control crying. I would be anywhere and just any memory would just get me… and really break me down.”
As time went on and Diddy was able to face his new reality, he championed his religious connection as the factor that pulled him through. “Talking to God is what really got me through it,” he expressed. “I had a wonderful life in time with Kim. I have beautiful kids. I’m just like the luckiest man in the world to even have had the experience to have her in my life.”
