Kimora Lee Simmons

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Kimora Lee Simmons (born Kimora Perkins on May 3, 1975 in St. Louis, Missouri) is a former fashion model and the head of design for Baby Phat.

Simmons is the daughter of a Japanese/Korean mother Joanne Perkins (now known as Kyoko Lee) and African American father, Vernon Whitlock, Jr.

Kimora began her modeling career at age 13 alongside former best friend Jason R. Jeffries. By the age of 10, she had grown to a height of 5 feet, 10 inches. By age 14, she had grown to a height of six feet, and became a self-professed muse for The House of Chanel's Karl Lagerfeld. As a child she was very self-conscious about being biracial. Working as a model, however, her ethnic background made her stand out. Throughout her career, she has referred to herself as African-American or multi-cultural.

She is a graduate of Lutheran North High School in St. Louis County, Missouri.

On December 20, 1998, she married hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons. Kimora and Russell announced their separation in March 2006. The Simmons' have two daughters: Ming Lee Simmons, born January 21, 2000, and Aoki Lee Simmons, born August 16, 2002, both of whom model for Baby Phat Kids Collection.

Contrary to popular belief, Kimora Lee Simmons is not the founder of the Baby Phat brand. Her husband Russell actually founded the company himself as a counterpart to his Phat Farm clothing line and named Kimora as creative director for the line.[1]

She was cast as one of the celebrity judges on the reality series America's Next Top Model. A duel with Janice Dickinson (in which Dickinson was severely lacerated about the neck) forced her to leave the show after one season.

On July 29, 2004, Simmons was arrested outside her estate in Upper Saddle River, NJ and charged with possession of marijuana under 50 grams, eluding police, careless and imprudent driving, and driving with a broken brake light. The arrest was made after a two-mile chase that began near the Saddle River Police Station.

Her first and thus far only book, Fabulosity, published by Judith Regan of Simon & Shuster's Regan Books, was released on February 21, 2006. Recently, Simmons has designed a new line of jewelry, called the Hello Kitty Collection. Simmons used the Sanrio Hello Kitty logo on the face of all of these new accessories.