Kimora Lee Simmons Reportedly Set To Sever Ties With Her Exes

Kimora Lee Simmons is looking for a fresh start by cutting legal connections to her former flames.

According to new reports, the TV personality is aiming to change her name by severing ties to her ex-husbands' last names.

Kimora Lee Simmons has been married twice, first to Def Jam Records co-founder Russell Simmons and then to the disgraced banker Tim Leissner.

Kimora made her intentions known in legal documents obtained by TMZ, filing a request for what will be her fourth legal name. She explained that she wished to drop her exes' last names for the "consolidation of records and names used in different documents."

Kimora took on Simmons' last name after tying the knot to Russell in 1998. The former couple finalized their divorce in 2009; however, Kimora kept his last name. She became Kimora Lee Simmons-Leissner after saying her vows to Tim in 2014 and kept the name after their 2022 separation.

Kimora's initial last name was Perkins, but she doesn't want to revert to her maiden name, per the legal documents. Instead, she petitioned the court to allow her to shorten her legal name from "Kimora Lee Simmons-Leissner" to "Kimora Lee."

Kimora's decision to drop her former husband's last name might stem from her complicated relationship with the pair. She and her first ex-husband, Russell, have infamously clashed over the years due to their differences.

According to PEOPLE, Kimora and Russell separated in 2006, years after welcoming two daughters, Ming and Aoki. Kimora officially filed for divorce in March 2008, and the request was finalized a year later without public drama.

Things changed in 2021 when Russell sued Kimora and her then-husband, Tim, claiming they had conspired to defraud him. He accused them of transferring nearly 4 million of his shares in the energy drink company, Celsius; the lawsuit is still ongoing.

The contentious relationship between Kimora and Russell continued in 2023, when their oldest daughter, Ming, implied she did not have a good relationship with her father. At the time, Ming wished Kimora a Happy Father's Day while snubbing Russell in a social media post.

The following day, Russell addressed the incident on his Instagram Story with a statement. He stressed that people should stop asking fathers to fight harder to see their children and "start asking mothers why he had to fight at all."

In a second post, Russell claimed the father one had was the perfect father for the evolution of their souls. Aoki fired back by sharing a FaceTime recording that seemingly captured Russell yelling at her while she was in tears. She claimed her father would "threaten and curse and go crazy."

If the drama Kimora faced with her first ex-husband wasn't bad enough, her second ex-husband made her a public spectacle with his fraudulent activities. The New York Post reported in 2022 that Tim had confessed to faking his divorce to marry Kimora in 2014.

Tim dropped the bombshell revelation while standing trial for his role in the 1MDB scheme, one of the world's largest multibillion-dollar fraud operations involving a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund. Tim admitted to stealing money from the fund to finance his lavish lifestyle.

As for the fake divorce, Kimora's second ex-husband confessed that he had photoshopped divorce papers to showcase the end of his marriage to Judy Chan Leissner. Tim explained that he did so to wed Kimora and ultimately paid the price when his still-legal wife found out.

According to Tim, Judy had refused to help him put a $900,000 down payment on a house in Los Angeles for him and Kimora after discovering the fake divorce papers. He eventually bought the  $25 million home using the stolen funds from 1MDB.

Last month, The Blast reported that the property made waves in new court documents that accused Kimora of refusing to leave the premises. She had allegedly not made any mortgage or rent payments in years and even accused Tim of selling the home without authority.

Since the property was purchased with the money Tim stole from the 1MDB fund, it was a part of the ongoing legal case and subject to reclaim by the Malaysian government. On that note, the fate of Kimora's rent-free stay at the mansion remains uncertain as the fraud case unfolds.