Kimora Lee Simmons is revisiting a pivotal chapter of her early modeling years, and it involves an old friend she once misread. The mogul says Tyra Banks once tried to keep her away from Russell Simmons, an intervention Kimora initially took as jealousy but now understands very differently.
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The story resurfaces
Kimora shares the episode in the upcoming Lifetime documentary "Kimora Lee: On Her Own," which traces her rise in fashion, her personal relationships, and her life as a mother. The film gives her room to reframe moments that shaped her, and the Banks story is among the most revealing.
A teenager in a grown-up world
Kimora was just 16 when she met Russell Simmons, who was 18 years older. She was establishing herself in New York after breaking through in Paris as a Chanel model, while Simmons, already a major figure in music and fashion, regularly attended her runway shows and began sending flowers. The age gap and the courtship set the stage for a friend's concern.
The intervention
According to Kimora, Banks, then a close friend, took an unusual step to slow things down. She recalled Banks keeping her at her apartment for a full weekend, preventing her from getting home to check her voicemail and respond to Simmons. At the time, it felt like sabotage rather than support.
How she read it then
In the moment, Kimora bristled. "I felt a little bit like she was hating," she said, explaining that she initially believed Banks was simply getting in the way of a relationship she wanted to pursue. For a young model chasing an exciting romance, a friend's roadblock read as interference.
How she reads it now
Hindsight changed the picture. Kimora now believes Banks was trying to protect her, particularly given Simmons' history with women in the modeling world. What once looked like jealousy, she says, was a close friend trying to shield her during a complicated stretch of her young life.
What the relationship became
Kimora ultimately pursued the romance. She and Simmons married in 1998, with Banks serving as a bridesmaid, and had two daughters, Ming and Aoki, before separating in 2006 and finalizing their divorce in 2009. Kimora has since described the marriage as tumultuous, saying she experienced verbal and emotional abuse she did not always recognize as such while living through it. A representative for Simmons did not immediately respond to a request for comment on those claims.
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Two friends, years apart
Kimora and Banks have since grown apart, and Kimora has said the two have not spoken in years. Still, the memory offers a revealing glimpse into the choices and friendships that shaped her early years in the spotlight, and a reminder that the people who frustrate us in the moment are sometimes the ones looking out for us.
