Kimora Lee Simmons is surely a famous name among fashion lovers, especially those from the United States of America. Kimora started modeling from her early years. At the age of 11, her mother enrolled her in a modeling course and after a few years she was discovered by Marie-Christine Kollock.
Kimora was eventually sent to Paris, which marked the start of a very successful modeling career.
In addition to fashion and modeling, Kimora Lee Simmons has made her mark in acting. She has appeared in several movies including The Big Tease, For Love or Money, Beauty Shop, and Deep Waist. Also, this fashion star has been seen in several TV series and shows like America’s Top Model, Kimora: House of Fab, and Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane.
Kimora Lee Simmons Biography
Born as Kimora Lee Perkins in Missouri, USA on May 4, 1975, the model is an American national. She was raised by her mother who saw her potential as a model and quickly enrolled her in a modeling school from an early age.
Over the years, the child model eventually became an industry sensation and formed a close friendship with Tyra Banks. Kimora Lee Simmons received her basic education at Lutheran High School North in St. Louis, Missouri.
Although she started her modeling career as a child, her career in fashion design took off after her marriage to her first husband, Russell Simmons, who was already designing baby clothes from her Phat Farm clothing line. Kimora succeeded him and eventually, Baby Phat was born in 1999. Kimora became the creative director and president of the brand.
Kimora and Russell made the conscious decision to sell the Baby Phat brand to the Kellwood Company for a whopping $140 million and its subsequent expansion into jewelry which resulted in the creation of the Diamond Diva line. The two businessmen signed an agreement with Coty Inc which allowed them to create their own line of perfumes for women under the Kimora Lee Simmons brand and another agreement with Vida Shoes International to create a line of shoes for women.
Her parents, husband and children
The fashion icon is of mixed ethnicity, her African-American father Vernon Whitlock Jr looked like the proverbial Jack of all trades, who held several jobs as an investigator with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, a federal marshal, a bail servant and much later a hairdresser in St Louis.
When Kimora Lee Simmons was still in her formative years, her father was sentenced to 24 years in prison for distributing narcotics. Although Vernon was released after five years, his marriage was already over. Kimora was raised by her Japanese mother Joanne Perkins.
The fashion icon and model met her first husband, businessman Russell Simmons when she was 17, at New York Fashion Week. An affair began which culminated in a wedding on the Caribbean island of St Barts on December 20, 1998. The officiating priest for the day was none other than Russell’s brother, Joseph “Reverend Run Simmons” of Run-DMC, a popular rapper and also a minister in the Pentecostal church.
The couple’s marriage was blessed with two daughters namely Ming Lee Simmons born in 2000 and Aoki Lee Simmons born a few years later. Sadly, Russell and Kimora’s marriage fell apart in 2008 and their divorce was formalized in 2009.
Kimora’s next lover is the famous actor and modelDjimon Hounsou. Although they never made it to the altar, they had a child (Kenzo Lee Hounsou) together before calling it quits in 2012. Two years later, in 2014, the famous model tied the knot with Tim Leissner, who worked as an investment banker. the next year they welcomed a son, Wolfe Lee Leissner.
Net value
The beautiful model had some significant dollars added to her fortune estimate when her company made a whopping $140 million from the sale of her clothing line in January 2004. Kimora Lee Simmons can boast of having a staggering net worth of $50million which is said to have accrued thanks to her handsome annual income of £9,400,000.