Kim Porter’s ‘Memoir’ Is Number One on Amazon. Its ‘Author’ Can’t Say It’s Real
The man behind the publication of a memoir purported to be from Sean Combs’ ex-partner Kim Porter tells Rolling Stone that he can’t guarantee the book’s authenticity after he claims to have received a flash drive containing the book from two “music industry” sources but insists that he “believes it to be true.”
The 59-page book titled KIM’S LOST WORDS: A journey for justice, from the other side… was self-published on Amazon earlier this month, tracing Porter’s alleged tumultuous relationship with Sean “Diddy” Combs before her sudden death from lobar pneumonia in 2018.
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Its numerous typos, factual inaccuracies and incredulous claims involving high-profile names made little traction upon its release, but after Combs’ arrest on sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy charges, sales have skyrocketed. The $22 book briefly held Amazon’s Number One bestseller spot, outperforming new releases from Sally Rooney, Nicholas Sparks, Hillary Clinton and Ina Garten. (Amazon calculates its best sellers list through sales volume data and customer activity of a book relative to the activity of other books.)
The alleged memoir’s sexually explicit allegations have been widely circulating on social media, amid rampant speculation, misinformation and memes surrounding Combs and his looming criminal trial.
Porter’s family members and friends have insisted the memoir is fake and is filled with “fabricated bullshit and offensive pages,” according to Porter’s ex-partner Al B. Sure!. The singer-songwriter — who shares son Quincy Brown with the late model — said there will be a “significant suit headed right for the heads of the responsible parties who dragged my name into this bullshit.”
On Friday, a lawyer for Al B. Sure! sent cease and desist letters to Amazon and Chris Todd, the man behind the book, according to documents obtained by Rolling Stone. Attorney Robert J. Hantman confirmed to Rolling Stone that the notices were sent out, saying they were seeking an immediate halt to the book’s sales and a public retraction of the alleged defamatory statements.
Additionally, Porter’s best friends Kimora Lee Simmons and Lawanda Lane tell Rolling Stone in a joint statement that they “don’t know [the author] at all.” Lane adds that “every page in that book is false,” saying that Porter was not working on any kind of memoir before her death. “She would never,” Lane says. “She was extremely private.” Close friend Eboni Elektra called the book “blatant lies” on Instagram as portions of the unauthorized work began circulating online in July.
A source close to the Combs family adds that they will explore all their options regarding the book. “Kim Porter never authored a manuscript, and any claims suggesting otherwise are entirely false and fabricated,” the source says. “The baseless pages in the book not only misrepresent Ms. Porter’s lived experience and legacy, but also continue to cause unnecessary distress to her loved ones.”
Todd — real name Todd Christopher Guzze, according to records — is behind the book. He describes himself as a producer, author and investigative journalist, and claims to have worked on and solved some of pop culture’s biggest murder investigations, including Nicole Brown Simpson, JonBenét Ramsey, and the Zodiac killer, among others. He also claims to have evidence that Kurt Cobain’s suicide was actually a murder.
Todd published the memoir under the pseudonym Jamal T. Millwood, a reference to a conspiracy theory that Tupac Shakur’s 1996 murder was faked and he is living under that alias. According to Todd, the alleged memoir wound up in his hands shortly after Casandra “Cassie” Ventura filed her detailed sex trafficking and sexual abuse lawsuit against Combs last November. Two people allegedly close to Combs and Porter contacted Todd about the memoir, he says.
“They said they had her flash drive,” Todd claims. “I didn’t ask too many questions about how they got it [or] where did it come from.”
Todd says he believes the memoir is real, but when pressed on who the sources are or how he could guarantee they had legitimate writings from Porter, Todd declines to give specifics on how he fact-checked or verified the material. When asked if he contacted reps for the celebrities named in the book, Todd says their teams “ignored him” and told him to “kick rocks.”
“If somebody put my feet to the fire and they said, ‘Life or death, is that book real?’ I have to say I don’t know. But it’s real enough to me,” Todd says. “Sometimes you have to just put it out there. Maybe not 100% of the book is true, but maybe 80% is. That is to get those people to come forward and either corroborate or deny [the claims], and that helps me as an investigator to know the truth.”
Although Todd insists that he works as a “voice for the voiceless” and that he “represents the voice of Kim Porter,” he grows frustrated when questioned on the book’s legitimacy, wanting the conversation turned back to his work as an investigator and the other cases he’s claimed to have cracked. “If I’m so hot, and my story and projects [are] number one on Amazon, where is everybody?” he asks. “Where’s my agent? Where’s CAA, the people I called for 12 years?”
“I’m trying to explain to you, this is not about Kim Porter, it’s about Chris Todd!” he adds.
Todd declined to say how many copies of the book he’s sold so far. Despite being a bestseller, the memoir currently has a 2.8 star rating. “This book is garbage … I don’t know who put this out, but this is unreal and I can’t believe I bought this trash,” one person wrote. “I have asked for and received a refund.”
This post was updated on Friday, September 27 at 3:05 p.m. to include Al B. Sure!’s cease and desist letters to the book’s author and to Amazon.
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