Co-parenting is hard in and of itself. Toss in a global wide pandemic, and parents are having to make unique and interesting compromises all around to make it all work. One set of parents who are finding their groove amid quarantine are Kimora Lee Simmons and ex-husband Russell Simmons.
“He’s not even near me right now, sadly. But usually, I’m kind of in the captain’s chair when it comes to [the] parenting of all [our] children,” the 45-year-old Baby Phat founder said in an interview with Us Weekly. “I’m the only one that’s usually in the captain’s seat and then everybody kind of defers to me.”
Lee was married to Simmons from 1988-2009. The pair share daughters Ming Lee, who is 20-year-old, and Aoki Lee, who is 17-years-old. Lee also shares 10-year-old son Kenzo with ex Djimon Hounsou, and sons Gary, who is 10-years-old, and five-year-old Wolfe with now husband Tim Leissner.
Although Lee and Simmons are no longer married, they have remained great friends and she still admires the entrepreneur.
“I admired his kindness, his spirituality, he’s a very deep-thinker, a very good person with a very big heart. He’s a vegan,” she told Us in the interview. “I think just a little bit of those things have rubbed off on myself and the kids. I think it’s for the better and all that makes things all the better. We’re friends and he’s very supportive. We get along and it’s pretty easy.
In addition to co-parenting with her ex-husband, what has Lee been doing with her extra time during quarantine? Well, with the help of her daughters, Ming and Aoki, Lee and her brand, Baby Phat, Lee has teamed up with the Freedom Shield Foundation to provide 150,000 meals to family in need. With every purchase made on the brand’s website, they will donate additional meals to the initiative.
“We’ve been serving up hundreds and thousands of meals to people that are affected by the pandemic and by COVID. I don’t actually have the latest count, but I know it’s hundreds, probably over half a million meals. So that’s been something that’s really been great,” she said to US. “We’ve been able to really get some traction there because a large portion of sales, which have also dropped numbers, are lower for everybody. But a portion of that then goes to help the less fortunate in this whole situation.”
Kimora Lee Simmons is truly proving that she is a woman that can balance and do it all. If you would like to help the Lee’s initiative, check out their website here.
