Russell Simmons‘ ex-wife Kimora Lee and his daughter have accused him of years of emotional and verbal abuse amid their ongoing family drama.
Aoki defended her sister Ming Lee, who reportedly gave her mother a Father’s Day shoutout instead of Russell and Kimora, who accused her father of “threatening” their lives.
After an exchange of cryptic messages, deleted posts, and vulnerable crying sessions on Instagram Live, the Harvard graduate claims she is now being harassed online by “men” seemingly in agreement with what she calls her father’s erratic behavior.
“I wonder how your mothers, sisters, daughters, nieces, girlfriends, wives, would feel seeing some of the sexiest, racist, honestly foul comments and messages some of you ‘men’ are leaving me,” she wrote on her Instagram Story June 21.
“The misogynistic stereotypes and names, the absolute hate for women of color a lot of your comments show, just waiting to take your anger at how you feel you’ve been ‘treated’ by women.”
She said one of the hecklers was a “40+ year old male stranger yelling at me about ‘all the bitter black women’ I represent and it’s not the 20 year old on the receiving end.”
In a second post, Aoki doubled down on her stance about speaking up for her mom and older sister over a photo of her younger self and the co-founder of Def Jam Recordings.
“Until a short time ago, this is the man who told me ‘always defend and look after your mother girls’ and ‘never let a man curse at you’ [and] ‘you call Daddy if a man ever tried to yell you or scare you that’s never ok!’ Real men don’t shout at women and girls,” the runway model explained.
“So to all the toxic men in my comments using ‘I’m defending him’ to be foul, and talk about all the grievances you have with women, you can save it.”
She added, “It’s pathetic. He would agree I know that for sure.”
In her third and final post, Aoki recalled her father telling her things like, “Always defend your mother and sister” and “Don’t let any man talk to you crazy. I’m just following instructions here ppl,” she concluded.
Her posts come days after her father apologized and seemingly reflected on much happier Father’s Day celebrations. On his Instagram Story, Russell wrote “Slightly better fathers dau” over a previous post he originally shared in June 2022.
The post featured a “throwback” photo of the two and a sweet note from Aoki that read, “@unclerush happy fathers day daddy! I love yo no matter how much hot yoga you make me do.”
In her initial testimony on Instagram Live, she described herself as a former “Daddy’s girl” who has dealt with Russell’s awful behavior her “whole” life.
The 20-year-old alleged that he cut her off financially simply for appearing to show support for her mother over him. She also accused him of referring to her, her mom, and her sister as “house of b——hes” and “house of c-nts.”
The published model also shared screenshots of messages from WhatsApp that purportedly are between herself and her father as proof of his disdain for Kimora.
Many were more disturbed by the muted video she shared from their FaceTime call, which shows Russell yelling and screaming into the phone. She said he would only call or rant and rave about her mother and his legal matters, causing her to have panic attacks as a teen.
In his apology, the 66-year-old said, “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.”
Aoki believes her father is “not well” and suggested that he was “possessed.” In the subsequent text messages, the entertainment mogul said he was “literally broke” and unreliable. “Nobody relies on him he’s flat broke and won’t even get me an Uber at night if I’m unsafe,” Aoki said during her Instagram Live.
She is currently living in New York with a friend and pursuing her burgeoning modeling career.
