♪ wanna taste taste taste ♪ i wanna feel love ♪ ♪ dance with me ♪ ♪ make you mine ♪ [ cheering and applause ] ♪ this is "nightline." >> tonight, perfect wife. >> she made us all believe that her story was true. every single day, she committed to the lie. >> the story that shocked the country. >> hi, i have an emergency.

there is a lady on the side of the road needing help. >> sherri the florida momentum who faked her own kidnapping. now her husband finally opening up. >> did she ever apologize to you or the children? >> no, never. >> the clues he says the police ignore. plus, the scandals rocking the music industry. >> sex, drugs and rock 'n roll runs the business. they can do whatever. >> powerful artists being called out on their alleged abuses. multiple lawsuits facing mo money mo problem producer. to def jam founder russell simmons, and now the dream. ♪ you can stand under my umbrella ♪ >> songwriter of big tunes like rihanna's umbrella. >> sean combs is not created in a vacuum. the music industry enables behavior like this. >> what women say to force the industry to finally face the music. and boston strong.

>> the celtics are nba champions. >> the celtics winning their first nba championship in 16 years. >> "nightline" will be right back. we all need fiber for our digestive health, but less than 10% of us get enough each day. good thing metamucil gummies are an easy way to get prebiotic, plant-based fiber. with the same amount of fiber as 2 cups of broccoli. metamucil gummies the easy way to get your daily fiber. can neuriva support your brain health? mary, janet, hey!! (thinking: eddie, no frasier, frank... frank?) fred! how are you?! fred... fuel up to 7 brain health indicators, including your memory. join the neuriva brain health challenge.

good evening. thank you for joining us. it was a shocking story. a california mother went out for a run and disappeared without a

trace. but when sherri papini was found weeks later, wounded and branded, the most disturbing part of the story was yet to come. now years later, we hear from her ex-husband, keith papini, opening up about the elaborate hoax and what happened as his wife's story unravelled. here is abc's matt gutman. >> every single day, she committed to the lie. and it did. it crushed me. >> reporter: keith papini, the father of two whose wife's disappearance captivated the country now speaking fourth the first time in seven years. >> as a husband, you want to protect your family. you want to protect your wife. >> reporter: his story captured in a new hulu documentary series "perfect wife." >> the way she looked at me in that moment felt like she was lying. >> reporter: what made you want to sit down and revisit all of that? >> i wanted to get the truth out there. >> reporter: if you'll remember the story of sherri papini, well, you're in for a bit of a

roller coaster. the saga began back in 2016 when 34-year-old sherri papini went out for a jog. to most of the world, sherri papini was the mother of two with the picture book perfect family. >> a kiss for the camera with sunflower seeds. >> reporter: who seemingly out of nowhere had her life torn apart, vanishing in broad daylight. >> 911, what is your emergency? >> so i just got home from work, and my wife wasn't there, which is unusual. >> what's your wife's name? >>s-h-e-r-i. >> reporter: in total, 22 days pass after sherri papini went missing. but then on thanksgiving morning 2016, a trucker finds woman in distress on the side of the road. >> 911 emergency, what you reporting? >> hi, i have an emergency. there is a lady on the side of the road needing help. her name is sherri panini? >> can i talk to her? >> here.

>> please, please! >> sherri, i need you to listen to me. listen to me. do you know where you are? >> no. no. i've been in a car. >> okay. take a deep breath, sweetie. who chained you up? do you know the person or were you kidnapped? >> i don't know, i don't know. >> listen, i have help on the way. >> reporter: pretty soon news breaks that the horrifying story of that missing mom seemed to have a storybook ending. >> we're very ecstatic to report the sherri papini has been located. >> missing for nearly a month under mysterious circumstances, has been found alive. >> reporter: but the horror sherri tells authorities that she lived through is written all over her body. bruises, her hair chopped off, her skin branded. >> what was the car? what did she look like? >> it was an suv.

it was a dark colored suv. >> dark colored suv. and there is just one person? >> two. >> two? >> two women. >> there was an older one and a younger one. >> they were hispanic. they spoke spanish a lot. >> reporter: and from there, the story only got more unusual. >> i think she may have tased me. i don't remember. i don't remember. the next thing i remember is my clothes were gone. >> reporter: perhaps most harrowing, branding marks on sherri's back which spelled out the word "exodus." >> my skin made a sizzling popping sound. it hurt so bad. >> she literally lived through hell. the things she told me that she did. acting like she was tucking in our kids, and she told me one time she took some piece of cloth and rolled it up like it was violet, and she would rock it.

she's so strong. >> reporter: but not long after sherri papini's story begins to unravel. from inconsistencies in what she said happened to her to stories of infidelity, and a history of running away, leaving some to question was all this a hoax? there started to be rumors that circulated that sherri had something to do with her own disappearance. did that anger you? >> in my darkest hours, i obviously explored any possible outcome, you know. could she have just left? there is no evidence. >> reporter: but in 2020, a break in the case, the moment that changes everything. when authorities call the couple in for a update, they tell them they've identified sherri's ex-boyfriend james reyes based off of dna collected from sherri's clothing. what is it like sitting in that room? >> i am ecstatic. we have a lead. we've got 'em. so i'm very happy in that moment.

and then you can quickly see how it turns when they do finally say james reyes. my body language you can see, i'm starting to scoot away. and it's really hitting me what you find out in the documentary is the very first night i meet with the sheriffs, i tell them about james. >> reporter: authorities capturing audio from the moments they approached reyes about sherri papini. >> were you guarding sherri papini? >> i didn't kidnap her. i just friend asked me for help, and that was that. >> what did she say? >> she was trying to get away from her husband. has your husband beat you? has he raped you? i don't know what her deal was. >> reporter: she was telling other people that you were abusive. were those allegations true? >> of course not. >> reporter: did you ever physically or mentally abuse her? >> never. >> reporter: sherri's ex-boyfriend james told authorities during the 22 days she was in his apartment hitting herself to create bruises and

burning herself. >> how did all that stuff come about? >> she did it while she was here. she hit herself to create a bruise or something. >> reporter: he also admitted to sherri asking him to brand her which he did. he said he had given the name james reyes as a possible suspect when she first went missing in 2016. the sheriff's office had not comment odd about this information. in august 2020, they bring her and keith in to confront her with the truth. >> the dna on you belongs to james reyes. we talked to him. we've been on. it's not an abduction. >> no. >> i picked her up. >> no. >> he passed the polygraph test, sherri. >> that's not what happened. what did happen, sherri? >> i don't know. no. there is no way. it's james. there's no way. there's no way.

>> it was my fault that i was flirting with other men. it was such a stupid thing to do. i love my husband. i love my children. >> that's understandable. >> a stupid thing talking to other men. >> not a crime. lying to me today, yes, a crime. >> reporter: in march 2022, sherri papini was arrested and later convicted of lying to a federal officer. she served ten months in prison. abc news reached out to sherri and to her ex-boyfriend james reyes for comment. neither responded. as for keith papini -- >> i'm the idiot husband that stayed around the whole time. >> reporter: years later, he says the entire saga still haunts him. >> it's very difficult for me. i loved this woman for so long. and it's almost like there is still good there.

i remember just even filing for divorce. like i didn't want to. >> reporter: she apologized in court. but has sherri ever apologized to you or the children? >> no. never. she has no remorse that i have ever witnessed or seen. >> juju: our thanks to matt. you can catch the full series "perfect wife" streaming on hulu beginning thursday. when we return, a grammy winning songwriter says the music industry lets its cash cows like diddy and russell simmons do whatever they want. she's determined to force change. from the top down. type 2 diabetes? discover the ozempic® tri-zone. ♪ ♪ i got the power of 3. i lowered my a1c, cv risk, and lost some weight. in studies, the majority of people reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it. i'm under 7. ozempic® lowers the risk of major cardiovascular

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welcome back. the music industry has been rocked by recent string of horrifying allegations against some of its biggest stars. one songwriter is determined to bring change to an industry she says has protected too many for too long. what made you decide to talk? why put yourself out like this? >> i knew i had the opportunity to share with the world that the music industry is not safe. the music industry has an abundance of wealth to silence people scare people, make them go away. so i felt like, you know, it's only right. >> the music world has been rocked by the recent allegations

of toxicity of abuse. >> prosecutors raiding two how many times owned by sean "diddy" combs. >> from singers like sean "diddy" combs, accused of serious crimes ranging from drugging to sexual assault to underaged sex in at least seven lawsuits. to russell simmons, the hip-hop mogul and founder of def jam records, sued by multiple women for sexual misconduct with one plaintiff later dropping her lawsuit. and now the dream. the singer, songwriter and producer behind mega hit likes rihanna's "umbrella." ♪ facing allegations of rape, sexual battery by a former protege. combs, simmons and the dream all deny any wrongdoing. in this turmoil, a steady voice. >> sex, drugs and rock 'n roll runs the business. and once someone becomes a cash cow, they can do whatever.

>> reporter: advocating for more protections for those making the soundtrack of our lives. there is a lot of people that contribute to your favorite song. and those people are my people. and, you know, i am one of those people. and i was a traitor. >> juju: for years tiffany built a career writing songs for artists like jason derulo, zendaya and jennifer hudson. winning a grammy for work on jennifer hudson's debut song "invisible" ♪ standing in the back of the line ♪ >> juju: in 2020, tiffany took her own stance against feeling invisible, starting the nonprofit organization the 100%ers. the organization meant to increase protections for behind the scenes music creatives, particularly people of color. >> they rip off our sound, and you are not going to respond to my email when i'm one of your songwriters? >> you follow me on social media. you see me go really hard about songwriter compensation.

and the thing is there were so many creatives who felt the same way as me. >> juju: that feeling is what? >> underserved. not protected. songwriters are behind the scenes. because of that, all kind of stuff happening to us that nobody knows about because you don't see it. >> byron: tiffany launched initiatives to combat sexual abuse in the industry by providing financial resources to help cover therapy, legal fees and time to recover away from work. >> we challenged a bunch of major record companies, music studios to commit to creating safer space, and none of them signed it. >> byron: what does that tell you? >> it's a problem. the music industry is a very predatory industry. >> byron: but while some companies did not get on board, industry giants like the recording academy, broadcast music inc., and the national music publishers association signed the 100%ers pledge and committed to creating a safe space for staff and to report any inappropriate behavior. >> signing the pledge gave us a

way to publicly acknowledge the work that we were doing, but also join forces. it really will take the entire industry being involved for the change to be effective. >> reporter: brian beutler is the vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion recording at the academy, the organization responsible for the grammy awards. he says the time for change is now. >> i think the industry had a dramatic shift in 2020 when we were having a global pandemic and america had the racial reckoning that it had. i think that that was a trigger for everyone in the industry to really focus on what it means for the industry to be diverse, to be inclusive, and to be equitable. >> byron: that same year in 2020, the recording academy launched the black music collective to celebrate black music creators and professionals. >> through black music collective we have an hbcu program where we give out scholarships to five students a

year, and then we also pick two hbcus to give grants to. and those grants help their music program. >> byron: for tiffany and her organization, 100 percenters, she says compensation is another pillar of their fight. >> i call out ceos of major corporations and organize and agitate. and so i'm a disrupter. i'm trying to get a union election going, get on the national labor board's radar and do something to really change this. >> reporter: tiffany claimed she lost wages when she says sean combs swaushed and album she was working on with his ex-girlfriend, cassie ventura. >> this is my career. this is my dreams. those are my records. if those records would have come out in 2015, i would have been paid more before because it was the streaming era. i was at the top of my game, and he knocked me off. >> byron: why didn't the album come out? >> because he was using the music to control cassie.

>> byron: in a statement to action news, his attorney schedule mr. combs cannot comment on litigation, cannot comment on pending litigation and cannot address every allegation picked up by the press from any source no matter how reliable. cassie and tiffany became close friends while working together. tiffany checking in with cassie after the singer filed a lawsuit against combs last november. the first of at least seven filed against him in recent months. combs and cassie settled for an undisclosed amount the day after she filed a lawsuit. combs said settlinging wasn't an admission of guilt. but for tiffany, she says it's time for the industry to face the music. >> sean combs is not created in a vacuum. the music industry enables behavior like this. i feel like i'm standing up for myself. i'm standing up for young me. i'm standing up for all my friends and my peers that have gone through this that are in a position to speak up.

>> byron: what's next for you? >> this is the most attention that has ever been on the music industry in regards to abuse. and so i'm going to scream from the rooftops. >> it's a systemic problem. i'm going to continue to advocate. somebody got to do it. so i'm going to do it. >> byron: when we come back, cheers tonight in boston. >> we did it. we did it! >> the celtics are nba champions. is or crohn's disease... put it in check with rinvoq... a once-daily pill. when symptoms tried to take control, i got rapid relief and reduced fatigue with rinvoq. check! when flares kept trying to slow me down i got lasting steroid-free remission with rinvoq. check! and when my doctor saw damage, rinvoq helped visibly reduce damage of the intestinal lining.

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and finally tonight, the boston celtics defeating the dallas mavericks, winning their first nba championship in 16 years. fans turning out in green, celebrating the win. congratulations, celtics fans! [ cheering ]