The Def Jam Records co-founder then took to social media to share that his ex-wife and mother to his two children, Kimora Lee Simmons, had made it difficult for him to reach out to his children.
“Stop telling fathers they should have fought harder to see their children and start asking mothers why he had to fight at all,” Russell’s post read.
The following day, Kimora Lee took to Instagram Live and fought back tears while explaining that Russell had been verbally abusive to her and their children, adding that he has lied about the status of the family dynamic.
She then stated that Russell gaslighted many situations but people fail to see it because of his “powerhouse” status in the entertainment industry.
“Please don’t attack my children, they’ve been through so much. Don’t attack my family — which is supposed to be your family too,” Kimora said. “Don’t do that because you’re at rock bottom, I don’t know, you’re grasping at straws. This is a money grab? I don’t really know what this is.”
Kimora further went on to state that Russell would send himself flowers and lie that they were from her. She added that she blocked him on social media many years ago.
Their youngest daughter, Aoki Lee Simmons, then entered the chat.
“This man is awful to me,” she said about her father as she began to choke up. “He has done awful things to me and I’m so tired of it.”
She continued while sobbing: “So if I never get any jobs ever again then like fine, I’ll go be a lawyer because I shouldn’t have to lie or be bullied by a child,” she said of her father having an impact on her modeling career. “You cannot just abuse your kids behind closed doors and not take accountability. You don’t get to do this.”
Aoki then shared screenshots of texts between Russell and Kimora in which he calls her mother a “piece of sh*t” as well as a video of him yelling at her on FaceTime. The posts have since been deleted.
“My father is not well, for years, he needs help and won’t accept that he refuses to acknowledge he is not himself,” Aoki wrote on Instagram. “He has threatened and bullied my sister, my grandma, he has harassed my grandma in the middle of the night in poor health, send a man to my sister’s apartment at 2am to scare her.”
She added: “He lashes out at ANYONE who does not say ‘oh Russell everything is fine.’ Well it’s not fine. If ‘I never get a fashion job again’ like he threatens, I’ll be a lawyer I guess and work in criminal Justice. Sure I love my job but if he takes it away from me I won’t die. You don’t threaten my sister and grandma and mother and say “who’s gonna believe you I’m Russell Simmons nobody thinks I’m crazy” well he is.”
Kimora and Russell wed in 1998 and divorced in 2008.
Russell has yet to respond to the allegations.
