Kimora Lee Says Tyra Banks Tried to Stop Her From Dating Russell Simmons at 16 — What Happened Between Them?
Kimora Lee says Tyra Banks once tried to stop her from dating Russell Simmons when Kimora was 16 and Simmons was 34.
At the time, Kimora did not see Tyra as protective. She thought Tyra was “hating” and getting in the way of a relationship she wanted.
Decades later, Kimora tells the story very differently: “She was trying to protect me.”
That is one of the most revealing moments in Kimora’s new Lifetime documentary Kimora Lee: On Her Own — and it raises several obvious questions. What exactly did Tyra do? Why did Kimora ignore her? Did Tyra and Kimora stay friends? And what happened with Russell Simmons afterward?
What did Tyra Banks do when Kimora started dating Russell Simmons?
Kimora told PEOPLE that Simmons began pursuing her when she was still a teenager, showing up at fashion shows, going backstage and sending flowers.
Tyra, who was one of Kimora’s closest friends at the time, became concerned.
Kimora says Tyra once kept her at her apartment for an entire weekend so she would not go home and check the messages Simmons had left for her.
To a 16-year-old Kimora, that did not feel like protection.
She thought Tyra was jealous or had some personal issue with Simmons. Kimora now says she can see that Tyra was trying to stop a teenage friend from getting pulled deeper into a relationship with a much older man.
Did Kimora Lee and Russell Simmons stay together?
Yes. Kimora and Simmons eventually married in 1998 and had two daughters, Ming and Aoki.
They separated in 2006 and finalized their divorce in 2009.
In the new documentary and accompanying interviews, Kimora describes parts of the relationship as emotionally and financially abusive. Those are Kimora’s allegations and account; Simmons has not publicly accepted that characterization.
The former couple have also had legal disputes in more recent years, including a fight involving shared stocks. Kimora said the stock dispute has now been resolved.
What happened between Kimora Lee and Tyra Banks?
This is where the story gets more complicated.
Tyra did not disappear from Kimora’s life immediately after the warning.
She later served as a bridesmaid at Kimora’s wedding and became godmother to Kimora and Simmons’s daughter Aoki.
But Kimora says the two women have not spoken in years.
That makes the original warning more emotionally interesting. Tyra was not simply an outsider who objected to the relationship and walked away. She stayed close enough to remain part of major family milestones.
Why does Kimora see the warning differently now?
Because hindsight changes what information means.
At 16, Kimora experienced the relationship from inside the feeling of being chosen by an older, powerful man. Tyra’s intervention felt like interference.
At 51, Kimora is looking back with decades of additional context: the marriage, the divorce, the legal fights, and her own description of what the relationship became.
That does not mean every friend who says “I’m protecting you” is automatically right. Protection can become control too.
But Kimora’s story is a strong example of how the same memory can change meaning when you finally have information you did not have the first time.
That is why this story connects naturally to How Families Can Support Recovery Without Controlling It. Good support can warn, name what it sees and stay available without taking ownership of someone else’s life.
Sometimes growing up is not discovering that your younger self was stupid. It is discovering that she was working with less information.
