Author: Chloe Melas

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Sean “Diddy” Combs is not surprised by his success.

“When I was growing up I really felt that I would be somebody,” Combs told CNNMoney this week. “I felt like I wanted to come and shake up the world. I wasn’t really surprised when I had reached a certain amount of success through hard work.”

Combs, 46, tops Forbes’ list of the wealthiest rappers with a staggering $750 million fortune. He’s made that money in ways that go way past music. Combs’ clothing line, Sean John, which he started in 1998, brings in a reported $525 million a year in revenue. He has a deal with Ciroc Vodka that pays him a hefty portion of its profits.

And those are only some of the businesses he has a hand in. Also part of his portfolio: Revolt Films and Revolt Media & T,V which launched in 2013; Bad Boy Worldwide Entertainment; Combs Wine & Spirits; AQUAhydrate and a marketing and advertising film, The Blue Flame Agency.

Combs credits his drive largely to his mother’s influence. “I would say the biggest mentor in my life has to be my mother,” he said. “I know it’s like a cliché answer, but that’s just honestly who has been my biggest mentor.”

He went on to tell a story from his childhood that changed his life forever. “One day I asked my mother for a pair of sneakers and she almost started to cry,” he said. “My hustle was born. I never wanted to see her face like that again.”

He immediately went out and got a paper route and that, he said, is when a “light bulb went off” for him.

“I called one of the guys that was going off to college and told him I’d deliver his papers for him while he’s off and send him half the money,” he said. “He accepted it and then I franchised it out and by the time I was 14. My mother didn’t have to have that look on her face anymore.”

Just this week Combs unveiled his latest Ciroc campaign, “Let’s Get It,” featuring DJ Khaled and French Montana, in an attempt to reach the millennial generation. “I think that’s in the millennial spirit and I think that’s what I represent and Cîroc represents,” he said. “I love the campaign, because it tells the history of how myself and DJ Khaled and French Montana, how we came from humble beginnings and what it took for us to get to this point.”

On top of innate hustle, the Harlem-born entrepreneur also realizes the importance of education. Earlier this week he attended the opening of Capital Preparatory Charter School in Harlem, New York, a school he co-founded. The school currently has 176 students in the sixth and seventh grades with plans to expand.

“Growing up as an entrepreneur, I thought everybody was like me, so I just wanted everybody to go as hard as me,” Combs said. “When you are a leader, you have to learn that everybody’s not like you and you have to figure out a way to motivate them.”

(CNN) — It’s Kerry Washington like you’ve never seen her before.

The outtakes from Season 5 of the hit ABC drama “Scandal” are downright hilarious. In a blooper reel obtained by TVLine, Tony Goldwyn swears on set, Guillermo Diaz’s cellphone goes off in a scene and Scott Foley really doesn’t want to practice kissing.

The “Scandal” storyline will reportedly pick up on election night when it returns for Season 6.

“We’re not going to spend our time playing an election,” executive producer Shonda Rhimes recently told EW.

Gladiators will have to wait until “Scandal” is back on ABC in January for more.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Oprah Winfrey is done with “diversity.”

Winfrey sat down with The Hollywood Reporter along with filmmaker Ava DuVernay to discuss how important it is for more black men and women to be represented on screen. Which is why Winfrey brought DuVernay over to the network she founded, OWN, to create an upcoming new series, “Queen Sugar,” about African American siblings who inherit a sugarcane farm in modern-day Louisiana.

“I used to use the word ‘diversity’ all the time. ‘We want more diverse stories, more diverse characters …’ Now I really eliminated it from my vocabulary,” Winfrey said. “Because I’ve learned from [DuVernay] that the word that most articulates what we’re looking for is what we want to be: included. It’s to have a seat at the table where the decisions are being made.”

“We aren’t sitting around talking about diversity,” DuVernay said. “Just like we aren’t sitting around talking about being black or being women. We’re just being that.”

DuVernay, 43, started out as a publicist and then made her mark at the Sundance Film Festival in 2012 when she won Best Director for her film, “Middle of Nowhere.” She went on to direct “Selma,” for which she became the first black female director to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture.

“All lives can’t matter to folks who are not us if you don’t know us, if you don’t understand [us]. I don’t make anything as education for anyone; I make it as a love letter to the characters: These are black people; this is a black family. It’s a window into that,” she said. “The same way when I go see ‘A Separation,’ about an Iranian family, or when I go to see a Korean film, it is a window into that world, and I see them, and I start to understand and value them. They begin to matter to me.”

“Everybody gets caught up in the slogan and the hashtag and the protest,” Winfrey added. “What we’re trying to do is get you to feel it.”

DuVernay’s next project is already underway and she’s making history again. She’s set to direct Disney’s “A Wrinkle In Time,” which will make her the first woman of color to direct a $100 million live-action movie.

Oprah Winfrey is writing her first cookbook, “Food, Health and Happiness: ‘On Point’ Recipes for Great Meals and a Better Life.”

“In the past several months on Weight Watchers, I have worked with wonderful chefs to make healthier versions of my favorite meals,” Winfrey said in a statement. “When people come to my house for lunch or dinner, the number one thing they ask is, ‘How is this so delicious and still healthy?’ So I decided to answer that question with recipes everyone can enjoy.”

Winfrey is also working on her memoir, “The Life You Want,” originally scheduled to release this January. Her publisher, Flatiron Books, says it will now publish the cookbook first and push back the memoir release date.

The former queen of daytime credits her recent weight loss of more than 20 pounds to Weight Watchers. Winfrey has a 10% stake in the company and sits on its board. She also serves as a Weight Watchers spokesperson.

“We’re thrilled to work with Oprah on this first book in the imprint,” Bob Miller, president and publisher of Flatiron Books, said in a statement. “In ‘Food, Health and Happiness’ Oprah has created a cookbook that is as inspiring as Oprah herself.”

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(CNN) — Kerry Washington has a message for women who feel trapped in an abusive relationship: “There is a way out.”

The star of ABC’s “Scandal” is partnering with the Purple Purse campaign, sponsored by the Allstate Foundation, to launch their #FreetoWalk initiative. Today Washington is taking her message to the White House where she will speak at the United State of Women Summit, and meet with First Lady, Michelle Obama. Violence against women and the importance of female financial independence are the primary focus the summit.

“I have known more than one person [that was] the victim of domestic abuse,” Washington told CNN. “The reality is most of us have … whether that’s in the public eye or someone close to us.”

Washington has been an ambassador for the Purple Purse campaign for three years. Purple Purse works to remove financial barriers that can prevent women from leaving an abusive relationship. The foundation has raised more than $5 million last year for community organizations that work to support victims of domestic abuse.

“The most important thing to know is there is a way out,” Washington said. “That there is a way to learn how to become financially self-supporting and take care of yourself so that you can make decisions for yourself that are empowering.”

One in four American women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime, according to the CDC.

“Beyond cuts and bruises, financial abuse is the silent weapon that allows perpetrators to maintain power and control in relationships,” spokesperson for the Purple Purse foundation, Vicky Dinges told CNN. “Without money or access to financial resources, even transportation, victims feel trapped in homes that feel more like prisons.”

Individuals can donate to this campaign by going to PurplePurse.com. Any woman who needs immediate help should call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233).

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