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Kimora Lee Simmons is opening up about her true feelings regarding daughter Aoki Lee’s brief involvement with a much older man in April 2024.
In an exclusive preview clip from the Not Skinny But Not Fat podcast that was teased ahead of the Dec. 9 episode, Simmons talks with host Amanda Hirsch about watching her then-21-year-old daughter spend time with 65-year-old restaurateur Vittorio Assaf, whom she met in St. Barths back in 2024.
Simmons blatantly called it an age gap relationship, briefly mentioning Leonardo DiCaprio before backpedaling and saying he [DiCaprio] wasn’t as old as Assaf.
Simmons explains that although she had known Assaf for years, she was shocked to see him connected to her daughter. “I knew him, but not like that – not with my kid,” she says, noting that his reputation “probably precedes him.”
Hirsch asks if she wanted to confront Assaf. Simmons admits she did, but everything happened so fast that she couldn’t react the way she wanted. The situation escalated publicly almost instantly, leaving her to find out at the same time the rest of the world did. As a mother, she says, she couldn’t jump in with an “I told you so” or “What are you doing?” even though those thoughts crossed her mind. She also says “I let my kids make my own mistakes,” calling it “living out your life.”
Hirsch then asks how she handled Aoki’s emotional experience. Simmons says she tries to let her children learn from their own mistakes, especially since living life publicly is already challenging. She believes the relationship wasn’t substantial, calling it “just a moment.” Still, she acknowledges that extreme age-gap relationships can feel “predatorial and kinda crazy,” based on her own past experiences.
Four days after PEOPLE confirmed the pair had been spending time together, a source close to the family said the two had already gone their separate ways. “Not only is it over – it was never really a thing,” the insider said, adding that while Aoki is still learning to handle her private life under public scrutiny, Kimora was understandably worried given her own history.