Is Stefon Diggs INNOCENT? AWFUL Day 1 for Former Chef in strangulation case
In case you missed it - Former Vikings, Bills, Texans, and Patriots, Wide Receiver Stefon Diggs is on criminal trial for assault (strangulation) of his former Private Chef.
On the surface, that’s pretty bad. In reality, this story is like an Ogre - it has layers. Lots of them. And we need them all.
So let’s break the fucking rules
One of the things writers/journalists are taught to do is called the inverted pyramid. You put the juiciest/most critical part of the story first, and work your way down to the least important details. You ever notice how every ESPN Article opens dropping a bombshell and ends with a player’s stats from last season? That’s why.
There’s so much to get to in this story, that I’m breaking the rules to deliver the best report possible. The inverted pyramid would have me telling you that Stefon Diggs Chef admitted to telling the police and the jury two different stories, essentially tanking the case on Day 1. I’m not going to tell you that, yet though. Instead, I’m going to start with an underprepared attorney named Drew Virtue.
Preparation Matters
Mila Adams, the former Private Chef of Stefon Diggs, took the stand on Monday, and it was a disaster.
If you didn’t know, attorneys meet with the witnesses they plan to call before the trial starts. This witness testimony should not have felt like the first time Mila Adams and District Attorney Drew Virtue met. Yet, that was the feeling.
DA: “What was it like working for (Stefon Diggs)?”
Adams: (After a long pause) “Can you say that again?”
Virtue went on to clarify his question, asking Adams what her duties were, to which she started describing cooking Diggs’ breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. She then clarified that she’s skilled in recovery, and her job was to get the receiver ready for his comeback year. (Diggs suffered a season ending ACL tear in 2024, before signing with the Patriots ahead of the ‘25 season)
DA: “Do you create a menu? Does he just tell you what he wants?”
Adams: “I’m skilled with recovery. So I knew what it would take to get him. Ya know. Help him get healthy and stay healthy.” (Not an answer to the question)
DA: “Did you cook just for him or did you cook for other people as well?”
Adams: (After a deep breath and a moment) “Yes. I would cook for whoever was in the house.”
DA: “How much did you get paid for that?”
Adams: “Um. We agreed (Pause) to (Pause) $2,000 a week.”
DA: “Can you describe (Stefon Diggs’) house? Like was it a single-family home?”
Adams: “Um…what do you mean?”
Here’s why I bring up these parts of her testimony. These are softball questions. These are the questions that a witness and attorney usually rehearse before the trial. Adams pausing before and during every answer, with her face and grunts screaming that she was confused (Even asking for questions to be repeated or explained) shows the lack of preparation conducted by Virtue and Adams.
At one point Adams described an instance where an alleged employee of Diggs called her a bitch. After a brief sidebar, Virtue began a new line of questioning regarding a trip to Miami. “I wasn’t finished on that last question you asked…” Adams started. “That’s fine.” Virtue interrupted. “But I’m asking questions now.”
Yeah, that moment doesn’t make the attorney or the witness look good. If only there were some way to prepare your witness for the questions you plan to ask, how courtroom procedure works, and what they should expect so they don’t accidentally hurt your case.
That would be really helpful.
(It’s called prepping your witness — and it’s not only legal, it’s standard practice).
Sex Chef Turned Live-In Sex Chef (Allegedly)
Yeah, you read that right.
DA: “How’d you meet (Stefon Diggs)?”
Adams: “We met in December of ‘22 through an Instagram message. He first wanted me to cook for him.”
Adams went on to explain that her relationship with Stefon Diggs was “Complicated” and after a deep breath went on to say “It started as friends. Became sexual…we decided I would come work for him in February of 2025.”
So far nothing criminal regarding Diggs. Ungentlemanly behavior? I don’t know. It could be a love story for the ages. A wealthy man meets an attractive working chef and turns a casual fling into a long-term arrangement.
It’s like Pretty Woman meets Ratatouille.
Babymama Drama featuring Cardi B
Adams, after struggling with the meaning of the word “friction,” went on to describe an incident in November of 2024 that impacted her relationship with Stefon Diggs.
“A Instagram DM message was sent to (Diggs’) child’s, mother’s, friend.” Adams said. “And this message was stating that I was telling his personal business of women that he was sleeping with that worked with us. That worked with me.”
A few timeline things here. Stefon Diggs fathered two children in 2025. In April, model Aileen Lopera gave birth to Diggs’ daughter (Confirmed through paternity test to be his on November 6th). On November 2nd, 2025, Cardi B gave birth to Diggs’ son. Stefon’s birthday is November 28th, for what it’s worth.
So we have a late November 2025 text from the friend of a babymama (That’s a faster way to say child’s, mother’s, friend).
That text could plausibly have come from a pal of Lopera, though I’m not sure what the motive would be. I would think that Lopera only wants Diggs’ child support payments, and doesn’t care about who he’s sleeping with these days. To me, it would make more sense that the babymama’s friend is that of Cardi B’s. Cardi B and Stefon Diggs were publicly in a relationship at that point in time. Perhaps a friend of Cardi B’s was trying to spare her from finding out about Diggs’ alleged indiscretions, whatever her reasons may be (and none of them are good).
Adams went on to describe an “ongoing sexual relationship” between Diggs and a woman working for him named Lindsey Boland. So far Boland’s exact relationship to Diggs is unclear. I have not yet heard back from Diggs’ team for comment (Nor am I expecting to. Though I did reach out).
The Alleged Assault
Adams eventually described the day that Stefon Diggs allegedly assaulted her.
Adams testified that she and Cardi B had planned to have matching outfits, and a fun time at the Art Basel Miami Beach event when she found out at the last minute that Diggs wasn’t going to bring her. Her testimony went on to describe being alone in her bedroom when Stefon Diggs entered and closed the door behind him. “He walked across the room and leaned against the dresser.” Adams stated.
DA: “What happened in that room?”
Adams: “He came in with intent to hurt me.”
DA: “No, not his intent or anything. What actually happened?”
Adams: “He was leaning against the dresser. He asked me to get up to come here. I got up off the bed and I came across to him, and I stood in front of him. Like I stood on the side of him. Cause he was leaning back. I stood on the side of him. And he was like ‘What was all that shit you was talking?’ And I was beginning to say ‘you said’ but I couldn’t finish my statement. And he smacked me.”
DA: “You said he smacked you?”
Adams: “Open palm, right hand. Right side of my face.”
Adams went on to describe how she attempted to block his hands, as Diggs is more than a foot taller than her. When Virtue asked Adams what happened next, she took a deep breath and asked for a moment. “Can I have a second?” Adams asked before turning from the microphone and sighing deeply. After a moment, Adams described Diggs’ reaching his arm around her and choking her neck, acting out a chokehold.
DA: “So you said you pushed against him and then he put his arm around your neck?”
Adams: “Yes”
DA: “Were you facing away from him?”
Adams: “I was facing him.”
DA: “You were facing him and he put his arm around your neck?”
Adams: “Yes”
DA: “He spun you around?”
Adams: “No, like he…I would have to show you more so than (I can describe it).”
DA: “Describe it as best you can.”
Adams: “I was standing in front of him. Then he slapped me. I went to block his hands, like this” (Adams put her hands in the air) “And then he…it was like he tackled me. And he got me to…” (Adams once again demonstrated a classic chokehold) “To try to keep me from pushing him or protecting myself.”
DA: “So you ended up in a position where his forearm or bicep was around your neck?”
Adams: “Yes”
Before cross-examination (from Diggs’ attorneys) have even had their chance to question her, Adams has changed her story multiple times. She was facing him at the dresser, then she was to the side of him. He put her in a chokehold, while facing her (She repeated this multiple times). Then, the story changed to he tackled her? The story isn’t consistent.
But wait, it gets worse.
Worse
Adams went on to describe Diggs choking her over the bed, and she attempted to free herself with a move she saw on a women’s defense page on Instagram. “When we got to the side of the bed I started pushing back.” Adams said. “I started to do a move I saw off of social media. He said to me ‘That shit, it is not gonna work’ It was a defensive move where you try to put your hands underneath the person that’s trying to choke you. It’s like something I saw on a woman’s defensive page or something. And he said ‘that shit you see on Instagram is not gonna work.’”
The move she was describing with her hands is where you attempt to slip your arm into a chokehold to give yourself some space to breathe, and ideally break the attacker’s grip.
Glaringly obvious question - unless Adams had previously spoken with Stefon Diggs about all of the different Instagram, chokehold, self defense techniques, how would he even know to say that?
Why would he know she saw it on Instagram? Why not TikTok? Why not Facebook? How does he know she didn’t just get it off of one of ten million action movies where the heroes use that move? Pretty sure I’ve seen Keanu Reeves pull that off at least ten times.
To me, Adams’ story felt as if she were adding details in the moment.
The Immaculate Police Report (That’s very maculate)
Adams filed a police report on December 16th, 2025. Stefon Diggs’ attorney, Sara Silva, loved it.
Sara Silva: “The story you just told to this jury under oath was very different from the one you told to Officer Ellis (Who took the police report), would you agree with me?”
Adams: “Yes”
Silva: “What you said to Officer Ellis when you reported this crime, this so-called-crime, is that you had been having an ongoing text exchange over money owed to you?”
Adams: “Yes”
Silva: “You told the police officer, who filed the criminal report in this case, based on your word, that your fight with Mr. Diggs on December 2nd was over money. True?”
Adams: “Yes”
Silva: “Except you just testified under oath to this jury, that you didn’t start talking about money, until December 5th, right?”
Adams: “What did you say?”
Silva: “You just testified under oath to this jury…”
Adams: “I’ve been begging for my money since December the 5th. Mr. Diggs, and throughout those messages you can see that I was begging for my money since that day.”
Adams answered the question so confidently, that I think it actually stumped Silva.
Silva: “What text messages?”
Adams: “There’s other text messages.”
Silva: “Ms. Adams, do you recall testifying under oath to this jury that your fight on December 2nd, was about your anger at Lindsey and you being told you couldn’t go on the Miami trip?”
Adams: “My anger was at Stefon, I never said my anger was at Lindsey”
Silva: “You were angry at Stefon on December 2nd?”
Adams: “Yes”
Silva: “Because you were told you couldn’t go on the…”
Adams: “I was angry at Stefon because we were friends and he told me at the last minute I could not go to Art Basel.”
Silva: “And yet, when you walked into the police station on December 16th, you said you had been having an ongoing text exchange over money owed to you?”
Adams: “Yes, over money owed to me after I asked Mr. Diggs, on December the 2nd, when can I get paid?”
After Adams, seemingly accidentally admitted to misleading the police, the jury or both, multiple times, the question of her injuries arose.
Silva: “You didn’t have any injuries when you walked into the Police Office on December 16th, did you?”
Adams: “No, because it happened on December 2nd.”
Silva: “Right, so any injuries that you would have had, you had a reason for why they weren’t there, right?”
Adams: “It happened and it faded. The fading went away that night.”
Silva went on to ask Adams if she had taken any pictures of her claimed injuries to her arms, neck, and chest and if she had any marks on her face from where Stefon Diggs had allegedly slapped her - to all of which, Adams answered no.
Silva: “You understand Mr. Diggs is a professional football player, right?”
Adams: “Yes”
Silva: “He’s an elite athlete?”
Adams: “I don’t know. He’s an athlete”
Silva: “You don’t know that he’s an elite athlete?”
Adams: “I guess. If you call him that.”
Then came the part about the bruises.
Silva: “You agree that bruises get worse over time, right?”
Adams: “I’m not sure. I don’t get bruises a lot. I don’t recall.”
Silva: “Do you recall telling Officer Ellis you were bruised on December 2nd?”
Adams: “My idea of bruising is hurt, soreness, hurting, I was red. It was redness. My face was red, and all of my chest was red. I didn’t turn purple or pink or anything like that. It was redness.”
Adams went on to explain a form she filled out describing the injuries she supposedly sustained on December 2nd, where she explained her pain level as being a 10 (The worst) on her shoulders, throat, and chest.
That’s when Silva pulled out the video (That was played using VLC Media Player, by the way. If you don’t know what that is, you’re either slightly younger than me or WAY older than me.)
The videos showed Adams just a day or so after the alleged 10 out of 10 attack. Dancing, smiling, laughing with friends in New York.
The obvious point was made - if your pain was a 10 out of 10, caused by an elite athlete like Stefon Diggs, how was there no bruising? How do the marks go away that same night?
Conclusion to Day 1
I could seriously watch this all day. Actually I have. I’m working hard for you guys!
There’s nothing to prove that Stefon Diggs didn’t assault Mila Adams. At the end of the day, it’s not possible to prove a negative which is why innocent until proven guilty is so important. I’m not in a position to say that Stefon absolutely did it or absolutely didn’t.
But here’s an important reality. If you’re going to come forward to hold an abuser accountable, that’s great. I encourage every victim to do that. But you can’t leave details out when you file your police report. You don’t get to determine what the police need for their investigation. You don’t get to determine what the jury does and does not need to know. That’s not up to you or me. It’s up to our legal system. And our legal system doesn’t work if everyone keeps trying to manipulate it and outsmart it.
That’s the most optimistic take I have on Mila Adams at this point in time, because while I don’t have evidence that Stefon Diggs didn’t commit this horrible act, I do have evidence that Mila Adams omitted details from the police. Her own testimony is that she told the police one story and told the jury another.
Personally, I think the prosecution should attempt to save face by dismissing all charges first thing in the morning. After Mila Adams’ disastrous testimony on Day 1, there’s no way a fair jury rules in her favor. They already know that either they were misled, or the police were. It’s over.