Russell Simmons and Kimora Lee Simmons’ youngest daughter sparked outrage following viral photos of her on a beach with a man one year older than her father.
Aoki Lee Simmons was seen kissing and coddling 65-year-old restaurateur Vittorio Assaf while on vacation in Saint Barthelemy in April in photos plastered online by Page Six. Both parents of the 21-year-old Harvard graduate, who also have a large gap in their age difference, appeared to support their child’s decision.
But after their breakup, Kimora told TMZ, “I think that we don’t think that the toads we may kiss is gonna be like broadcast. And I personally feel a little bit like she was set up, which is why I try to teach my girls right.”
Amid the backlash and criticism of all parties, a video surfaced of Aoki telling her dad she would get “sugar daddy” if he did not raise her monthly allowance. At the time, the runway model wanted to keep up with her friends after launching her own career in the same field that groomed her mother.
“If you don’t raise my budget, I’m gonna get a sugar daddy,” Aoki told dad Russell directly during their Instagram live video from 2023 after he congratulated her for booking a modeling gig.
Now, after the breakup, Aoki appears to be busy furnishing her new apartment in New York City and will likely have to find work to pay for her expenses. On May 17, she shared a collage of images that show her glimpses of her natural face all dolled up with makeup, on set of a gig and doing some self care with eye patches.
“The many faces of “yes *insert x relative* I will get a real job soon! ” on FaceTime
exciting stuff coming!” she captioned the post.
“Being a supermodel is a real time full job ! U just make it look so easy,” wrote one person in Aoki’s comment section. Another said, “Well well ,you do have different faces Eve naturally presented and that is remarkable, serenity beauty at its best and I’m hiring and I will give you the best hair job you ever had literally.”
Her mother even chimed to correct her daughter for wearing the eye patches so low beneath her eyelids. “Umm those eye patches need to be higher up ma’am,” Kimora wrote, to which Aoki replied, “They slide down because my cheekbones aren’t as good as yours.”
Aside from Jay-Z and Beyoncé, Kimora and the Def Jam Recordings founder have also faced accusations of “grooming” for decades due to their jarring age difference. She was a 17-year-old model when she met Russell, who was 35 at the time.
The former pair wed in 1998 and divorced in 2009 after two kids, Aoki and now-24-year-old daughter, Ming Lee.
