![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/9dedd1f095658fb12332df4ae0661f028b-kimora-and-aoki-lee-simmons.rsquare.w400.jpg\")
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\n Photo-Illustration: by The Cut; Photos: Getty Images\n <\/p>\n
Last year, Aoki Lee Simmons made lots of headlines for a very brief fling<\/a> that she, a 21-year-old model, had with a 65-year-old restaurateur, Vittorio Assaf. Over the course of about a week, their relationship was reported in the tabloids, paparazzi photos of them kissing on the beach were published in \u201cPage Six,\u201d<\/a> and then People<\/a> reported that the couple had split. \u201cNot only is it \u2018over,\u2019 it was never a thing,\u201d a source told the tabloid at the time. If that sounds like a whirlwind to you, imagine being Simmons\u2019s mother, Kimora Lee Simmons<\/a>. The model and designer is now making it clear she wasn\u2019t thrilled with Aoki\u2019s short-lived relationship, which she described as\u00a0predatorial.<\/p>\n In a preview clip of an episode of the Not Skinny But Not Fat podcast set to come out tomorrow, Kimora said that she lets her kids \u201cmake their own mistakes\u201d and added that, for Aoki and Assaf, their whole relationship was just \u201ca moment.\u201d That doesn\u2019t mean she has warm feelings toward Assaf, though.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cFirst of all, I know this guy,\u201d Kimora said, referring to Assaf. \u201cBut I didn\u2019t know this guy in that capacity \u2014 like, with my kid, or that you were even dating my kid. I know this guy growing up myself. He\u2019s a restaurateur. I don\u2019t know \u2014 I don\u2019t want to get into trouble legally, but I think his reputation probably precedes him. Is that okay to say, legally?\u201d (It\u2019s unclear what exactly she means by his \u201creputation,\u201d but Assaf did briefly date<\/a> the 22-year-old model Nya Gatbel in 2022.)<\/p>\n Kimora said that while she was concerned about what Aoki was getting herself into, she didn\u2019t have much of a chance to question it because it was over so quickly. \u201cIt blew up to be so much, so then you can\u2019t be the mom that\u2019s like, \u2018What the hell are you doing?\u2019 But that definitely was the thing,\u201d Kimora said. \u201cBut it went from zero to 100 really quick, and I was like, \u2018Aoki, I didn\u2019t even know this was a thing.\u2019 I found out when the world found out.\u201d<\/p>\n Even though Kimora was seemingly blindsided by the whole affair, more than a year later she does have some opinions about it. Kimora, who was 23 when she married a then-41-year-old Russell Simmons, doesn\u2019t endorse huge age gaps: \u201cI feel like having gone through, not exactly the same but similar, that big-age-gap relationship \u2014 let\u2019s just call it that \u2014 I do think it\u2019s predatorial \u2026 I think that\u2019s predatorial and kinda crazy.\u201d Sounds about right to me.<\/p>\n Stay in touch.<\/p>\n Get the Cut newsletter delivered daily<\/p>\n Vox Media, LLC Terms and Privacy Notice<\/p>\n