Kimora Lee Simmons Biography
Summary
"Kimora Lee Simmons" (born "Kimora Lee Perkins" on May 4, 1975 in St. Louis, Missouri) is a retired model, the head of design for Baby Phat, KLS and an occasional actress.
Biography
Kimora is of Japanese and African-American heritage. Her parents are Japanese mother Joanne Perkins (who now goes by the Japanese name 'Kyoko') and African-American father Vernon Whitlock Jr. Joanne (who was adopted by an American serviceman during the Korean War and renamed Joanne Perkins) is a former social security administrator; and Vernon is a former federal marshal who, after serving 3 years for dealing cocaine and synthetic heroin in the 1980s, is now a barber in St. Louis .
Growing up in the north St. Louis suburb of Florissant, Kimora was very self-conscious about being a 'geek.' Other children called her 'chinky giraffe' because of her height and Asian ancestry. By the time she was 10 years old, she was 5-foot 8-inches tall, and became the target of schoolyard taunts and teasing. With no Asian population in her community, she had difficulty fitting in with the mostly black student body who shunned her because of her Asian ancestry. Hoping to boost her confidence, Simmons's mother enrolled her daughter in a modeling class when she was eleven years old. Two years later, at the age of thirteen, Simmons was awarded an exclusive modeling contract with Chanel and just after her fourteenth birthday, she left for Paris to work under the tutelage of famed Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld. She quickly gained attention in the fashion world when Lagerfeld closed his haute couture show with Simmons, who strutted down the runway decked out as a child bride. 'Everything people thought was weird about me before,' Simmons told "People Weekly", 'was now good'. By age 14, her stature had grown to a height of six feet, and she became a self-professed muse for Lagerfeld. She and three other Lagerfeld models (Bernadette Jurkowski, Shoshanna Fitzgerald and Olga Sobolewska) were dubbed 'the four Karlettes'.
She is a graduate of Lutheran North High School in St. Louis, Missouri.
On July 29, 2004, Simmons was arrested outside her estate in Saddle River, N.J. and charged with possession of marijuana under 50 grams, eluding police, careless and imprudent driving, and driving with a broken brake light. The arrest was made after a two-mile chase that began near the Saddle River Police Station .
Personal
After 5 years of dating, on December 20, 1998, she married Russell Simmons. The Simmons have two daughters; Ming Lee Simmons (born January 21, 2000) and Aoki Lee Simmons (born August 16, 2002). Both Ming Lee and Aoki Lee model for Baby Phat Kids Collection.
Russell filed for divorce in March 2006 , saying the couple had split some time before.The former couple's 49,000 square-foot Saddle River, New Jersey mansion is for sale at ($23,888,000) . Located 25 miles northwest of Manhattan, the 1996 built palace is one of the largest homes on the East Coast. It is unknown whether or not the divorce has been finalized. In Spring 2006 when they announced their separation the two stated that they would continue to work together on Phat Farm and Baby Phat clothing lines. In 2004 Russell sold Phat Farm to Kellwood Company for $140 million dollars. When Russell stepped down as CEO of Phat Fashions LLC in September 2007, Kimora--who was already Creative Director of Baby Phat-- was promoted by Kellwood to President and Creative Director of Phat Fashions. Rumours say this promotion caused Russell to file for divorce from Kimora .
As of May 2007, Simmons has officially been dating actor/model Djimon Hounsou. They are often spotted together with her two young daughters .
On 5 August 2007, Kimora's reality TV show premiered on Style Network. Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane chronicles her daily life and routine, along with her relationship with her 2 daughters. It is now re-airing on E! Entertainment Television on Sunday nights at 10:30. It is unknown if it will comeback for a second season.
External links
(Official website of Kimora Lee Simmons)
(Myspace)
Credit
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article about Kimora Lee Simmons.
