Russell Simmons, Kimora Lee Simmons
Shutterstock(2)Russell Simmonsdaughters, Min Lee Simmons And Aoki Lee Simmonschose to celebrate Mom Kimora Lee Simmons instead of their dad on Father’s Day, leading to a messy back and forth for the family.
“Happy Father’s Day 🤍,” Ming Lee, 23, wrote via her Instagram story on Sunday, June 19, alongside an old photo of her and her mother, 48, walking the runway at a Baby Phat fashion show.
After his daughter’s not-so-subtle diss, Simmons, 65, took to social media to share a cryptic message suggesting Kimora was the reason behind his strained relationship with his girls.
“Stop telling dads they should have fought harder to see their kids and start asking moms why he had to fight in the first place,” the post read.
On Monday, June 19, 20-year-old Aoki Lee responded to Russell’s post by releasing a series of heated text messages between her and her father the day before. She also shared an emotional video explaining the drama about her Instagram page.
“My dad has not been well for years, he needs help and will not accept refusing to acknowledge that he is not himself,” she captioned the emotional clip. “He threatened and bullied my sister, my grandmother, he harassed my grandmother in the middle of the night while she was sick. [and sent] a man to my sister’s apartment at 2am to scare her. He lashes out at ANYONE who doesn’t say, “Ooh Russell, everything’s fine.” Well, it’s not good.”
Aoki further claimed that the Def Jam co-founder threatened her career by saying she would “never get another fashion job” if she spoke out. She also claimed that her father said no one would believe her if she came forward about his alleged behavior. The model too posted a video from a screen shot of a video call with Russell – who was visibly upset and becoming emotional. The clip had no sound.
“This is not someone who accepts help,” she wrote. “This is just one screen shot. Sorry, I don’t always remember pressing ‘record’ when he calls my friends, my boyfriend, whoever, to get a chance to threaten and swear and go crazy .”
Kimora, for her part, stood by her daughters’ side during the drama and shared the clips and posts on her respective social media.
‘I’m sorry I have to do this. But this man is threatening my children’s lives,” she wrote on her Instagram Story. “I hear so much more now. We will not be bullied, threatened or frightened. Who gave?!”
Kimora and Russell married in 1998 and called it quits in 2009 after nearly a decade of marriage. The founder of Baby Phat is also the mother of son Kenzo, 13, with ex Djimon Hounsouand sons Gary, 13, and Wolfe, 8, with husband Tim Leidsner. In May 2020, Kimora opened for Us weekly about her co-parenting dynamic with her ex-husband.
‘Unfortunately he’s nowhere near me. But usually I’m kind of in the captain’s chair when it comes down to it [the] parenting of all [our] children,” she explained. “I’m the one who usually sits in the captain’s chair and then everyone kind of defers to me.”