Who is Elisabeth Ovesen, who’s weighing in on Jay-Z and Diddy? The author, also known as Karrine Steffans, wrote Confessions of a Video Vixen and says the men both ‘abide by the same lawless code’

Dec 23 , 2024

Elisabeth Ovesen (right) has said she’s not surprised by the spiralling allegations against Sean “Diddy” Combs (left). Photos: Reuters, WireImage

Elisabeth Ovesen is adding her 2 cents to the conversation about Jay-Z and Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ alleged bad behaviour, saying they’re no different from Bill Cosby, Harvey Weinstein and Jeffrey Epstein

Elisabeth Ovesen, also known as Karrine Steffans, has spoken up since the bombshell allegation that Jay-Z (real name Shawn Carter) raped a 13-year-old with Sean “Diddy” Combs at an MTV VMAs after-party in 2000. He has since vehemently denied the claims.

Elisabeth Ovesen says Jay-Z and Sean Diddy Combs “abide by the same lawless code”. Photo: Imagn Images

Amid the allegations, Ovesen – who claims to have slept with the rapper and starred in one of his music videos – told the Daily Beast that the allegations were a consequence of the #MeToo movement. “None of this is shocking, and it’s all part of the same movement,” she told the outlet. “I’m not sure why people are separating this wave of Black music executives/artists from the original #MeToo investigations and arrests,” adding: “From [Bill] Cosby, [Harvey] Weinstein, Jeffrey Epstein, and the hundreds in between – they’re all connected.”

Disgraced music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs currently faces a slew of allegations. Photo: Invision/AP

“They all know the same people with few degrees of separation between them. They have the same handlers, go to the same parties, share each other’s jets, yachts, and islands, and they abide by the same lawless code,” Ovesen continued. “What we’ve seen lately with [Diddy], and now [Shawn] Carter isn’t a different set of events.”

Ovesen is the author of Confessions of a Video Vixen, which exposed the alleged bad behaviours of hip-hop stars when it was published nearly two decades ago. In the book, she claims that she was “gifted” to Combs in 2001 after his split from Jennifer Lopez. “In retrospect, I realised that I was given to him as a gift by another executive,” she told the Daily Beast in a separate interview from September. “I was not one of his victims,” she clarified. “And his victims deserve the space and time to discuss what happened in those rooms.”

Ovesen also spoke to Sky News Australia about Combs: “I knew what kind of person he was to other people. Everything that’s coming out now about Sean wasn’t a secret … him and Cassie, that was an open secret in LA, in the industry,” she said. “Everyone knew. The issue with something like that is that if someone says, ‘yeah, I was there, I’ve seen it. I know for sure’. Then the question becomes, well, what were you doing there?”

Elisabeth Ovesen with comedian Bill Maher, who she dated between 2005 and 2007. Photo: WireImage

So, who is she exactly?

What is Elisabeth Ovesen famous for?

Elisabeth Ovesen – whose pen name is Karrine Steffans – made The New York Times bestseller list three times. Photo: WireImage