Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons is in the middle of a storm caused by his ex-wife Kimora Lee Simmons. The former power couple’s tumultuous relationship has resurfaced in the public eye, with allegations flying and reputations on the line.
Kimora Lee Simmons, whose name is often linked to fashion and glitz, has taken to social media to vent her anger at her ex-husband, painting a picture of a man who is very different from how he acts in public. Kimora accused Russell of emotional and psychological abuse on Instagram, saying that he had been a manipulative person in her life and the lives of their children, especially their girls Ming and Aoki Lee Simmons.
Russell Simmons‘s Instagram Live video, in which he looked clearly upset and was allegedly yelling at his daughters, set off this very public spat. Kimora broke her silence and said she had been mistreated for years. In a number of now-deleted posts, she talked about how Russell’s behavior had hurt their family.
Aoki Lee Simmons Exposed Her Father, Russell
Even Kimora’s 21-year-old daughter, Aoki Lee Simmons, spoke out about the family drama from her point of view. In her own Instagram posts, Aoki backed up what her mother said by saying that she had to deal with her father’s aggressive behavior for years. She showed images of text messages that showed their relationship was tense. Russell was said to have said hurtful things and had a short temper.
#KimoraLeeSimmons and #AokiSimmons went on live to call out #RussellSimmons for harassment and making threats.
— TeaWithTia (@RealTeaWithTia) June 19, 2023
In an emotional live, Aoki says she has the proof that her dad is harassing and threatening her. According to Kimora, Russell is living a life of “crime and mess” and… pic.twitter.com/A5UpeEJevm
“Between a lot of people who are close to him and who have experienced how he has just lashed out at anyone he can and completely change the person that he is, a lot of us feel like maybe something’s wrong mentally,” she said in the now-deleted Instagram posts. “He’s older, [maybe] bi-polar? I don’t know. But he has completely changed. I will come on here and talk about whatever I want because it’s my life and I’m the one suffering. The couple texts I just had, those are only the beginning.”
According to The Independent, Aoki Lee Simmons said she had tried to keep a relationship with her father despite the problems. However, one particular incident from last year on Father’s Day seemed to have changed the dynamic between Russell and his daughter. According to Aoki, after she had wished her father a happy Father’s day, the mogul took to his Instagram Story to say: “Stop telling fathers they should have fought harder to see their children and start asking mothers why he had to fight at all.”
It was a backhanded thing to do, and apparently the last straw for both Aoki and her mother Kimora.
Kimora Said, ‘… I Do Everything On My Own’
Kimora is also on the record saying that she considers herself a single parent, as Russell and the fathers of her other children are largely uninvolved in their children’s lives.
“Men, powerful men, famous men, rich men, business rich men, whatever you want to call it,” said Kimora. “There’s a thing there and I don’t know what it is, but I don’t really have a great relationship with any of them and they’ve left me to it to just kind of do things on my own. I do everything on my own.”
