SR EXCLUSIVE: Sarah Chapman Speaks Out 'I want to be heard'

Photo: Sandra Rose/Sandrarose.com

Yesterday I spoke by phone with Sarah Chapman, the mother of Sean Combs first daughter who turned one 2 months ago. I am honored that Sarah chose Sandrarose.com to give her very first interview - even though she didn't originally intend to be interviewed by me.

Sarah was soft spoken and articulate during our 40-minute phone conversation. There are things she told me that I chose not to publish here. Never one to be greedy, I knew this wasn't the right forum for what she had to say. I asked Sarah to speak to someone at a national magazine to get her story out. I told her how much money she could make for her story, but Sarah wasn't impressed with the money. She was so humble that I was awed by her. She wanted to speak to me first, she said. She was happy that I portrayed her in a positive light, but she wanted to clear up a few errors in yesterday's post regarding Kim Porter's interview with Essence magazine. Sarah said, "I just wanted to let you know that whatever you write about me I want it to be truthful things."

"I never moved out of Atlanta," she said. "I have always lived here and I'm definitely 33. I graduated [from Spelman] in '96. My birthday is next week and I'm going to be 34," she said. "I never ran away from Atlanta because I was pregnant." Sarah, who was born in Minneapolis, said she moved to Atlanta at age 17 to attend Spelman College.

Sarah's response to Kim's assertion that she didn't know her: "A lot of what you said is true about me and Kim. There's so much more to the story than that. She definitely knows who I am," said Sarah. "Yes, it's true, we've had words. [Kim] knew about my pregnancy prior to her getting pregnant. In fact, Kim and I met [Sean] at the same time."

Sarah stressed that she doesn't seek out the spotlight: "That's not for me. I don't enjoy that. I'll let Kim have that"

She also talked about the rumors that surrounded her pregnancy last year: "There's been rumors out there that [Sean Combs] offered me a million dollars to not have the baby, said Sarah. "If he gave me a million dollars I wouldn't be calling him every month for child support," she joked. "I mean, he pays me on a monthly basis, but there's rumors that he offered me a million dollars hush money."

About her longterm relationship with Sean, Sarah said, "He and I are friends, we've always been friends. I've known him for a long time - 13 years exactly. Sarah adding that they dated "on and off" over those years. "I know it sounds very cliché, but we really are friends. It's never been a situation where I'm trying to step on top of [Kim] or I'm trying to be in her position."

Sarah expressed surprise that Kim dropped her name in the Essence interview. "She threw my name in that shit," said Sarah, raising her voice slightly. Regarding Kim's revelation that Kim didn't speak to Sean Combs about Sarah's baby until after her twins were born, Sarah said, "the scary part is that any woman can be with a man and not even mention to him 'oh, I heard you got another woman pregnant' - that's really scary. For the longest time she never mentioned my pregnancy to him. She kept it a secret to herself so it wouldn't take the shine off of her," said Sarah. "I thought [Sean] was lying, but he said Kim never mentioned my pregnancy to him."

Sarah stressed she wanted the opportunity to tell her side of the story in a national forum. "I don't have a voice," she said softly. "I don't have a forum to speak about my child. He has the forum. I'm not a superstar, he's the superstar. He's the person that should be out there acknowledging his child. I'm going on with my daily life and raising my child. We do what we do. We go to Sesame Street and the zoo," said Sarah.

"Now that she's lured me out, let me paint the picture. I don't want anyone else to paint the picture. Let me have a say so," she said. "I need to have a voice. I want to be heard."