Newly-Single Kimora Lee Simmons on Why She's Putting Her Children First & Relishing the Single Life (2488 hits)
'I'm not with anyone at the moment – it's just my kids and their two dads I guess'
'I'm not ready to date yet'
21 March 2013 By Lina Das Kimora Lee Simmons ... Growing up an only child in Missouri, Kimora was still a young girl when her parents separated, leaving her mother, Joanne Perkins, to raise her alone. 'A lot of my ideals come from my mum,' she says, 'and seeing what she sacrificed for me and how hard she worked definitely shaped me.' Did her mother constantly tell her she was fabulous? 'Well, I think people used different words for it back then!' Kimora laughs. 'But she was definitely the prototype of strong womanhood for me and it's where I get a lot of my determination from.'
Her exotic ancestry (Kimora is of Korean, Japanese and African-American descent) meant that growing up in the Midwest in the mid-Seventies and Eighties presented its own particular set of problems. 'I was bullied and picked on because I was so different to everyone else,' she says, 'and I definitely didn't believe or even know I was fabulous back then. But those hard times made me everything I am today. It's all water under the bridge now, but being bullied and going through adversity definitely made me stronger.'
To improve Kimora's confidence, her mother enrolled her in a modelling class when she was ten years old and after embarking on her modelling career at the age of 13, Kimora was chosen by Karl Lagerfeld to model for Chanel, where she went on to walk the runways of Paris, Milan and New York. 'That was a real turning point for me,' admits Kimora, 'because everything that people considered weird about me before, well, suddenly Karl Lagerfeld said it was OK. He's one of the biggest names in fashion, so all of a sudden it gave me a validity and introduced me to a whole other world.'
By the time she had turned 17, Kimora had already caught the eye of Russell Simmons, co-founder of the Def Jam label as well as creator of the Phat Farm clothing line (Kimora is former creative director and co-founder of its subsidiary, Baby Phat). She married him at 23 and though the couple separated in 2006, Simmons occasionally pops up in Kimora's various TV shows with their two daughters Ming, now 13, and Aoki, ten.
Kimora subsequently went on to marry actor Djimon Hounsou (best known for his roles in Blood Diamond and Amistad) and although they have a three-year-old son Kenzo, the couple separated at the end of last year. She deftly sidesteps the reasons as to why her five-year union with Hounsou didn't last, but says: 'Relationships do change throughout the course of your life and I always think in terms of relationships changing and evolving rather than starting and stopping. 'Kids never go away from your life and if you've been married, that person probably never goes away either. You never get rid of anyone and,' she laughs, 'they never really get rid of you!' Although she says she is on friendly terms with her ex-husbands, she admits: 'Gosh, it's not always so easy, but I try to do everything from the viewpoint of what's best for my kids. I have three kids and two great dads and it's not always easy, but you have to try to be a little selfless and we manage just fine.'
Though Kimora was recently linked with heavyweight boxer Malik 'King' Scott, she says now: 'I'm not with anyone at the moment – it's just my kids and their two dads I guess' and one wonders whether all that rampant fabulosity might not be a touch intimidating for some men.
'Well, I think they are sometimes [intimidated],' she admits, 'but men are intimidated by a lot of things, you know, such as jobs and bit of determination. They have a lot of insecurities about who we are, what we have, what we look like, what we've accomplished and what we're capable of because we're fabulous and capable of doing so much and juggling so much every day.
'People might be mad I'm saying this, but [men] do have a lot of hang-ups. But that shouldn't deter you ladies from being great! You don't have to dumb down – you just have to find a clever, good, secure man. I've found a couple – I've been lucky – but it's probably hard for everybody to find that true love of a good man.'
Having crammed so much in during her formative years, does she ever feel that she grew up a touch too quickly? 'Oh my gosh, I did,' she exclaims. 'I was modelling at ten, I married very young and I've done everything pretty early. I always joke that I've had several midlife crises already! I've definitely made mistakes along the way,' she admits, 'but I've got a good head on my shoulders and,' she adds in a rare moment of understated fabulosity, 'things have turned out pretty well so far.'
