The well known fashion designer of the brand Baby Phat, Kimora Lee Simmons, was embarrassed, but still supportive of her daughter Aoki’s brief age-gap romance with restaurateur Vittorio Assaf.
“I feel like she was set up a little bit,” Lee Simmons said. “I was probably a little bit embarrassed, but you know me, I was like, ‘It is what it is, honey. Come on, let’s go. Mama’s got your back. NDA’s coming!’”
Kimora, 48, shares daughters Aoki, 21, and Ming, 24, with ex-husband Russell Simmons. She also shares a son named Lenzo, 14, with her ex Dijimon Hounsou and son Wolfe, 8 with ex Tim Leissner. Kimora also adopted her son Gary when he was 10 in 2020.
Aoki was briefly linked to Assaf, 65, in April when they were spotted packing on the PDA during a beach vacation.
“I don’t think she was hiding anything,” Kimora explained. “She’s a young, pretty girl and we oftentimes don’t think that the “toads” that we kiss are going to be, like, broadcasted. I personally feel she was set up. Well, I can’t deny there’s definitely an age gap there despite the set up.”
After the photos went public, Aoki and Assaf called it quits, Kimora seemingly shared a supportive message for her daughter on social media during the incident.
“5:45 a.m. Rise and shine,” Kimora wrote via her Instagram Story on April 9. “Hold your head high even if you don’t feel like it! You got this! I love you! 😘❤️.”
Kimora stressed, “I try hard to teach my daughters certain lessons before they are thrust into certain situations.”
Despite being exposed, Aoki and Assaf both refrained from addressing their brief fling or the 44-year age gap between them, but the aspiring model has learned a lot of trick from her mom regarding her personal and professional experiences.
“My mom was literally trying to coach me while I walked down the runway during the Sergio Hudson show,” Aoki said in April. “I walked by and she yelled, ‘SHOULDERS!’ Since I started my career, my mom has given me a lot of helpful advice, but I also appreciate the amount of space she has given me to make my own way. She’s allowing me to figure it out.”
As Aoki, a Harvard University grad, steps into the modeling industry, she claims her main focus is to live in the moment.
“There is so much to learn in this business, so I’m staying flexible and enjoying the surprise of what comes,” Aoki added at the time.
