Aoki Lee Simmons

Aoki Lee Simmons Emotionally Reveals That Russell Simmons 'Is Not Well'

Home / Internet & social media / Aoki Lee Simmons Emotionally Reveals That Russell Simmons 'Is Not Well'

By Melanie VanDerveer on June 19, 2023 at 3:15 PM EDT

Aoki Lee Simmons is sharing some emotional and shocking information about her father, Russell Simmons, Def Jam cofounder.

In two recent Instagram posts, she explains that he needs help but won't accept any.

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Aoki Lee Simmons Claims Her Father Is Not Well

Aoki Lee Simmons
Aoki Lee Simmons - Instagram

The model and recent Harvard University graduate shared some troublesome information about her father on Instagram in an emotional video.

"My father is not well, for years, he needs help and won’t accept that refuses to acknowledge he is not himself. He has threatened and bullied my sister, my grandma, he has harassed my grandma in the middle of the night in poor health, send a man to my sisters apartment at 2am to scare her," her caption began.

Her caption continues to explain that he has threatened her and other family members multiple times.

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"He lashes out at ANYONE who does not say 'oh Russell everything is fine'. Well it’s not fine. If 'I never get a fashion job again' like he threatens, I’ll be a lawyer I guess and work in criminal Justice. Sure I love my job but if he takes it away from me I won’t die. You don’t threaten my sister and grandma and mother and say 'who’s gonna believe you I’m Russell Simmons nobody thinks I’m crazy' well he is."

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Aoki Lee Simmons
Aoki Lee Simmons - Instagram
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In the video, Aoki Lee looks distraught and is fighting to speak through her tears.

"I did also want to come on here and say that, between a lot of people who are close to him and who have experienced how he is, I mean, just lashed out at anyone he can and completely change the person he is. A lot of us feel like maybe something is wrong, like mentally, I don't know. He's older, I don't know. But he has completely changed," she said through her tears.

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"I will come on here and talk about whatever I want, it's my life and I'm the one suffering, so. He has completely changed. The couple texts I just had, those are only the beginning. I'm gonna go through them. I don't want to post a ton, but if he tries to say that's not happening, I have screen recordings, I have voice memos, of things that it doesn't sound like a human being. He's like shrieking and yelling, I mean, he sounds possessed."

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Aoki Lee continued to explain that she feels her father must be dealing with some sort of mental illness because he wasn't like this in the past and that everyone was really close before.

"I will say, I'm not even sure that it's to his credit, but the best explanation I have is something mental going on because I used to be very close to my dad. He used to be a good coparent, close with my mom, my stepdad, he godfather to my little brothers, we all went on vacation together every year. Like very close, well, well after the divorce. Everyone was really happy," she continued.

"When he had business ventures, my mom would invest in them. Good friend. He would come stay with us, we'd come stay there, like all the time, everyone together. And then really, he suddenly just decided that if we don't agree, it's, 'Oh you're all bi***es like your mother, I hate you. All these f***ing b****es are the same.' He's just a different person."

Her story went on to include some examples of things her father has done in the past like withholding money when she was away in another Greece for camp.

She said she understands that this all sounds crazy, because it is. Aoki Lee said her father was so good to her but then completely changed, and she wonders if he is struggling with some kind of mental illness crisis.

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She shared a few screenshots of recent text messages in Instagram Stories. Despite knowing there's a chance of losing modeling gigs, Aoki Lee wrote on one of the text message screenshots, "I've had enough. I know I may lose jobs or whatever I don't even know, I was always a daddy's girl you can see that in any picture. But he's been awful to me for years and that's just the truth.

Aoki Lee Simmons
Aoki Lee Simmons - Instagram
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In the following IG Story slide that includes more of the texting conversation between father and daughter, she added, "It's like talking to a cruel child or something. and no he does not financially support me he hasn't given me a dime in years. I haven't had a graduation gift, birthday gift, so much as a TAXI RIDE in years."

In another text exchange IG Story slide, she explained that she tries to not side with anyone over anything legal, but despite that, Russell has been "directly harmful" to Aoki Lee.

Aoki Lee Simmons
Aoki Lee Simmons - Instagram
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After sharing a few more Stories of the texting conversation, on the last one, she added, "If I block him or some space, he'd harass my boyfriend, my friends, literally college students. Children."

Aoki Lee Simmons
Aoki Lee Simmons - Instagram
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Aoki Lee Simmons Shared A Screen Recording Of A Call Between Her And Russell Simmons

Aoki Lee Simmons
Aoki Lee Simmons - Instagram

After sharing her emotionally charged video where she explains what's been going on with her father, she shared a screen recording of a call between the two of them.

"This is not someone who will accept help. This is just one screen recording sorry I don’t always remember to press “record” when he calls my friends, my boyfriend, anyone, to get a chance to threaten and curse and go crazy," she captioned the concerning video.

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While there is no sound in the video, it's quite apparent what's happening in it. There's no doubt that he's carrying on and yelling.

Many people took to the comments section to share their concerns for Aoki Lee and her family.

"Baby girl, please seek personal professional advice and medical advice, as well. This level of seen and unseen repeated abuse is dangerous, at any age. He may definitely attempt to blackmail or blackball you, but keep the pressure and proof. I’m sorry you are going through this, at your age. His arrogance and defiance is more common than you think. He’s out of control, because you all are taking control of your personal affairs and mental health. He can’t handle it," one person shared.

"I don't need to hear it to know that it's abusive language. Somebody go check ✔️ on these people. Not because they are famous, but because they are human. I keep asking where's the Rev," another person wrote.

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