Diddy's Ex: "I Wanted To Be Dramatic"

When Diddy's on-again off-again girlfriend of 12 years decided to leave him for good, she wanted to send him a clear message.

Kim Porter waited until Diddy, whose real name is Sean Combs, was out of town and packed up the house. She took everything, right down to the baby furniture and the kitchen table, because, she says, "there was no other way" to do it.

"You think he would have let me walk out the door?" she tells Essence magazine in an interview in the upcoming October issue. "He wouldn't have let me go."

Porter said she wasn't afraid of the rap mogul's reaction to her exit; she just wanted to be dramatic.

"I wanted him to know I wasn't breaking up with him for two weeks - or maybe leaving for two days," she says. "If I pack up everything - twins and all - it means I'm out! Puffy's an action person, not a talk person. So I had to have an action. Telling him, 'Babe, I'm leaving ...' was not gonna do it."

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Photos: Celebrity Splits

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2"We're friends," she says. "I'm the person he can tell his innermost thoughts to and he's that person for me. He still calls me every day and we talk. There's no ill feeling or 'I can't stand you, I hate you, don't call.' There's none of that. We have three children together, so that's just not an option. We're committed to our children even if we couldn't commit to each other."

Despite their apparent closeness, Porter said she decided not to stay because she wanted something different for herself. She says at this point even if Combs asked her to marry him, she'd have to say "no."

"I want both parties to be on the same page at the same time, and to leave a certain type of behavior behind. That's a commitment I don't think he's ready for," she says.

Rumors of Diddy's infidelity were "part of" the reason she left, Porter adds in the interview. The magazine hits newsstands Sept. 12.