Kimora Lee Simmons explains how she discovered her daughter was dating a man 44 years older than her
Kimora Lee Simmons is speaking candidly about her daughter Aoki Lee Simmons’ former romance with a man 44 years her senior.
Appearing in the “Not skinny but not fat“On this week’s podcast, the Baby Phat founder and reality TV personality was asked how she first reacted to finding out that Aoki Lee Simmons, then 21, had started dating. Restaurateur Vittorio Assaf, 65 years old. almost two years ago.
Kimora Lee Simmons initially seemed taken aback when host Amanda Hirsch described the relationship as “a big deal for pop culture,” but noted, “I let my kids make their own mistakes.”
“First of all, I know this guy. But I didn’t know him in that capacity like with my son or that you were dating my son,” she explained in a clip from the podcast, according to People. “I knew this guy from when I was a kid. He owns a restaurant. I don’t want to get into legal trouble, but I think his reputation probably precedes him. Is it okay to say that legally? So I learned some of this stuff as I went along, too.”
Assaf, co-founder of New York’s Serafina Restaurant Group, and Aoki Lee Simmons were first romantically linked in April 2024, when the two were spotted together in St. Barths.
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Although Aoki Lee Simmons is a professional model who has appeared in Vogue and other media, her romantic partners before Assaf were not public figures. Assaf, however, had previously dated model Nya Gatbel, who was 22 years old at the time.
Although Assaf and Simmons’ romance attracted intense media scrutiny, it was also short-lived, with the two reportedly going their separate ways less than a month after their Caribbean getaway.
“Everything blew up, so you can’t be the mother who says, ‘What the hell are you doing?’ But that was definitely the issue,” Kimora Lee Simmons said. “It went from 0 to 100 really fast and I was like, ‘Aoki, I didn’t even know this existed.’ I found out when the world found out. That’s what was so shocking.”
After comparing Assaf to Leonardo DiCaprio and other male public figures known for dating younger women, Kimora Lee Simmons acknowledged that she, too, had experienced a “large age gap relationship” in the past.
“I think it’s a predatory act,” he added.
Kimora Lee Simmons, a mother of five, told TMZ last year that she felt Aoki Lee Simmons had been “a little bit set up,” but did not elaborate.
“She’s a young, pretty girl, and we don’t think the frogs we kiss will be transmitted,” he said. “I probably felt a little embarrassed, but you know me, I definitely say, ‘It is what it is, honey. Come home, let’s go. Mom’s got your back.'”