Daughter of music mogul Russell Simmons, Aoki Lee Simmons, is calling out her father amidst a family feud that sparked on Father’s Day. The 20 year old and her mother, Kimora Lee Simmons are claiming that Russell is emotionally abusive and has cut his children off.
A Rocky Father’s Day
The family’s public drama started on Father’s Day when Aoki Lee’s sister, Ming Lee, wished her mother, Kimora, a happy Father’s Day on her Instagram stories. She did not mention her father. Russell seemingly responded by posting Father’s Day wishes from his famous nieces Vanessa and Angela Simmons. According to the Los Angeles Times, Russell also posted a quote that read, “The father you have is the perfect father for the evolution of your soul and the lessons that you needed to learn in this lifetime.”
Kimora Lee Simmons went live following the Father’s Day fallout responding to the growing drama. In the emotional live, Kimora alleged that Russell has all but cut their children off detailing that Russell did contribute a few hundred dollars to college expenses. She also claimed Russell is broke and told her children he can’t help them financially anymore.
“I’ve taken care of this person to the tune of many many many millions of dollars to help with their bills their overhead their companies that they run into the ground,” Kimora said.
Aoki Lee Speaks Out
After her mother’s live, Aoki Lee, who recently graduated from Harvard, also took to Instagram to share her side of the familial breakdown. The young woman claimed that Russell is disrespectful to her mother and emotionally attacks his children with threats. She alleges that her father harasses her boyfriend and friends when she attempts to give him space. As proof, Aoki Lee shared text messages, voice memos and several screen recordings. One was a muted recording of a facetime call with her father. In it you can see a visibly upset Russell who appears to be screaming.
“This is not someone who will accept help,” Aoki captioned the video.
As a part of her Instagram posts, Aoki Lee included a possible explanation of his alleged behavior.
“Some of us do thinks he’s mentally ill or experience [something] like dementia, he really acts like he hates and does not know his children frequently” Aoki Lee wrote. “Prior to his media issues he was really the best dad ever and a great co parent. He and my mom were best friends.”
Aoki Lee’s final posts about the matter included a reshare of an Instagram post from 2017 which shows her and her father going in for a kiss. The caption reads, “I’ll always be a princess because my father is a king.” On her story Aoki Lee writes, “I did the best that I could, anyway I’m out of here.”
Hours after Aoki’s story post, Russell shared a video to his page of his two daughters with the caption, “DEEPLY sorry for being frustrated and yelling . . .but know this . . . there are no conditions . . . for sure i love you guys more than i love myself.”