Her husband, Russell Simmons, calls her a
"glamorous clown." She dubs herself a "country girl from the Midwest with a really big heart." And New Jersey police say she's a careless driver who refused to pull over and had marijuana in her car on the night of July 26.
They're all talking about hip-hop style phenom Kimora Lee Simmons, a 6-foot-1, diamond-loving, couture-wearing, red-carpet-walking, workaholic mother of two.
At 29, she's the force behind the sexy Baby Phat fashion line. But Simmons, married to music and fashion mogul Russell, 46, and the mother of daughters Ming, 4, and Aoki Lee, 2, has little time to lounge on her luxe Versace bed.
"I'm at work all day and all night," Simmons says during a chat before the night she was arrested.
She has plenty to keep her occupied. The one-time Chanel girl, who started modeling for icon Karl Lagerfeld at 13, is launching the Simmons Jewelry Co. this fall. She's co-hosting the syndicated Life & Style, a View-esque talk show premiering Monday.
Add to the mix Simmons' scrape with the law when she was arrested just outside her Saddle River estate. She had her first court appearance on Aug. 4 and pleaded innocent to disorderly conduct, possessing marijuana and eluding police by not pulling her Mercedes over fast enough.
"There was not a bag of drugs in the car," says her attorney, Stacey Richman.
"Evidently some item that has some marijuana residue in it was in the car. I don't believe the item belonged to her."
Her husband, too, swears his wife is blameless. "She's very innocent," he says. "If you drove down our block, you would never want to pull over. It's a twisting, turning, dark road."
Russell Simmons, ever the entrepreneur, has plans to turn his wife's legal lemons into lemonade. "Have you seen the mug shot?" he asks. "It's a nice T-shirt at the end of the day."
Not that the Simmonses need the extra cash. Their home, equipped with a gym, movie theater, beauty salon and a cozy room for her four dogs, is said to be the biggest private residence in the state and has a workforce of 50 to keep it running.
The decor is sumptuous, a blend of kitschy gift-store throw pillows and pricey
paintings. Every piece was picked out by the lady of the house, who loves her diamonds and flashes plenty.
Simmons spends most of her time in her kitchen, which, unlike the rest of her downstairs rooms, has a warm, lived-in vibe. A maid walks in with a breakfast tray and briskly loads the dirty dishes into the dishwasher. In a flurry of hugs and kisses, her daughters wander in with the nanny, and her dogs arrive from the groomer and mill around seeking affection.
The dogs, she says, sleep with her.
"When I got this house, I had it in mind to fill it up with a lot of people and a lot of animals," says Simmons, who is in the process of adopting a child. "That's what it's all about."
Simmons says she's not merely the exotic face — her mother is Japanese-American, her father African-American — of her numerous collections or the hyper-styled woman who stars in her own ads.
"I pump my heart and soul, my image, my blood, my kids, into (my products)," she says. "It's my life, and it's my family, and there's no
way to separate the business me from the personal me, and a lot of people don't understand that I hold my own weight.
"It's a constant struggle. A lot of time people look at me like I'm just Russell's wife."
USATODAY.com - Sep. 9, 2004
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