Russell Simmons’ daughters, Ming Lee Simmons and Aoki Lee Simmons, chose 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 a throwback photo of her and her mom, 48, walking the runway during a Baby Phat fashion show.
Following his daughter’s not-so-subtle diss, Simmons, 65, took to social media to share a cryptic message that implied that Kimora was the reason behind his strained relationship with his girls.
“Stop telling fathers they should have fought harder to see their children and start asking mothers why he had to fight at all,” the message read.
On Monday, June 19, Aoki Lee, 20, 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 on her Instagram page.
“My father is not well, for years, he needs help and won’t accept that he refuses to acknowledge he is not himself,” she captioned the emotional clip. “He has threatened and bullied my sister, my grandma, he has harassed my grandma in the middle of the night in poor health, [and sent] a man to my sister’s apartment at 2 a.m. to scare her. He lashes out at ANYONE who does not say, ‘Ooh Russell everything is fine.’ Well it’s not fine.”
Aoki went on to claim that Def Jam cofounder threatened her career by saying she would “never get a fashion job again” if she spoke out. She also alleged that her father said no one would believe her if she came forward about his alleged behavior. The model also posted a video of a screen recording of a video call with Russell — who was visibly upset and getting emotional. The clip had no sound.
“This is not someone who will accept help,” she penned. “This is just one screen recording sorry I don’t always remember to press ‘record’ when he calls my friends, my boyfriend, anyone, to get a chance to threaten and curse and go crazy.”
Kimora, for her part, stood by her daughters’ side throughout the drama and shared the clips and messages on her respective social media.
“I’m sorry to have to do this. But this man has been threatening my kids’ lives,” she wrote via her Instagram Story. “I’m hearing so much more now. We won’t be bullied, threatened or afraid. Who gaf?!”
Kimora and Russell wed in 1998 and called it quits in 2009 after nearly a decade of marriage. The Baby Phat founder is also the mother of son Kenzo, 13, with ex Djimon Hounsou, and sons Gary, 13, and Wolfe, 8, with husband Tim Leissner. In May 2020, Kimora opened up to Us Weekly about her coparenting dynamic with her ex-husband.
“He’s not even near me right now, sadly. But usually, I’m kind of in the captain’s chair when it comes to [the] parenting of all [our] children,” she explained. “I’m the one that’s usually in the captain’s seat and then everybody kind of defers to me.”
