Russell Simmons’ ex-wife, daughter accuse him of verbal abuse
Russell Simmons’ ex-wife Kimora Lee Simmons and their daughter have accused the music executive of verbal abuse.
On Monday, Kimora Lee and their 20-year-old daughter Aoki Lee Simmons accused the Def Jam Recordings executive of verbally abusive behaviour, with Aoki posting texts and muted FaceTime recordings appearing to show him yelling at her.
“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 one video 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 sisters apartment at 2am to scare her (sic). He lashes out at ANYONE who does not say ‘oh Russell everything is fine.'”
Alongside one FaceTime recording, she added, “This is not someone who will accept help. 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.”
In a later post, Aoki claimed some of the family wonders if Russell is “mentally ill” or has dementia because “he really acts like he hates and does not know his children frequently”.
Russell and Kimora were married between 1998 and 2009 and they also share a 23-year-old daughter named Ming Lee.
On her Instagram Stories, the fashion designer wrote, “I’m so sorry to have to do this. But this man has been threatening my kids lives (sic). I’m hearing so much more now. We won’t be bullied or threatened or afraid.”
She also shared a screengrab of Aoki’s text in which she informed her father that his calls had been giving her panic attacks.
“No one should live like this,” Kimora wrote beside the text. “No one’s child. This is abuse. Not ok.”
The music executive has yet to respond to the allegations.
More than a dozen women have accused Russell of sexual misconduct and assault in recent years. He has denied all of the claims. Musicnews
