Woman who claims Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs shot her in the face while partying with Jennifer Lopez celebrates his arrest

A woman who has long claimed Sean “Diddy” Combs shot her in the face while hanging out at a club with Jennifer Lopez in 1999 recently celebrated his arrest.

Natania Reuben said in a new interview that her daughter, Nirvana, alerted her Monday that the Bad Boy Records founder, 54, was taken into custody by federal agents and charged with three charges: forced sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution.

“She said, ‘Mommy, tell me who’s in custody?’” she told The Daily Beast on Wednesday. “I asked her if it was someone in town that we know. And she said, ‘No, he’s the big one.’”

When Reuben realized it was Combs, she said she “began to cry out to God, ‘Thank you, Merciful Father!’”

In December 1999, Ruben was at a Manhattan nightclub with a friend when the “Act Bad” rapper and his then-girlfriend Lopez arrived for a party.

The couple was joined by Combs’ bodyguard Anthony “Wolf” Jones and rapper Jamal “Shine” Barrow, who signed with Bad Boy Records.

During the party, Combs got into a verbal argument with an alleged drug dealer, which led to gunfire.

Ruben said she was in the crossfire when she saw Combs allegedly shoot her in the face.

“I saw him,” she told The Daily Beast. “I saw him with my own eyes.”

Reuben, who was hit by a 9mm hollow point bullet between his eyes, said it felt like he had been hit with “Paul Bunyan’s blazing-hot hammer.”

“I cried out to God and said, ‘Don’t take me. I’m not done raising my kids, I have to work,'” she said at the time, referring to her two young sons.

After the shooting, Combs, Barrow, Jones and the “Selena” actress, now 55, fled the scene, but police captured them after a brief chase. Police found a stolen and loaded 9mm semiautomatic gun, and all three men were charged with weapons possession. (Lopez was arrested and held in a cell for more than 12 hours, but was never charged.)

The hip-hop legend, the “Bad Boys” rapper and Jones went on trial, and Ruben testified that it was Combs who shot him in the face.

However, surgeons were unable to safely remove all of the fragments from his face to prove a ballistic match with the pistol found near Combs on the night of the shooting.

The music executive was acquitted at trial and later settled a civil suit with Reuben and the other victims of the nightclub shooting. (Reuben reportedly received $1.8 million.)

Although Ruben always maintained it was Combs who shot him, Barrow, 45, was found guilty and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

After his release in 2009, Barrow was deported to his birthplace, Belize, where he now serves as Leader of the Opposition in the Belize House of Representatives and leader of the Belize United Democratic Party.

Lopez stayed with Combs throughout his trial, but their romance ended for good in 2001 when he was accused of cheating on her with Kim Porter.

Now that the Sean John Clothing founder has been arrested and is being held without bail at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York, Reuben said he is overjoyed.

“It was the best day ever,” he told the outlet, adding that if Combs had been convicted for the 1999 club shooting, he probably wouldn’t have had so many victims.

Combs has pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking and racketeering charges. He currently faces at least eight lawsuits in which people have accused him of rape, sexual assault and other crimes, all of which he has denied.

If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call the Sexual Assault Helpline at 1-800-330-0226.

If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or text START to 88788.