Who is Vittorio Assaf? Kimora Lee Simmons opens up about daughter Aoki Lee’s brief relationship with 65-year-old restaurant founder

Kimora Lee Simmons recently made candid remarks about how she felt when her then-21-year-old daughter, Aoki, briefly dated then-65-year-old restaurateur Vittorio Assaf in 2024. The former couple met in St. Barts.

When asked by interviewer Amanda Hirsch about her "reaction to that in real time?" in the December 8 episode of the Not Skinny But Not Fat podcast, Kimora said:

"I let my kids make their own mistakes, like I said. That’s the whole thing we were saying about living out your life in public, and I think that’s very, very, very tough. I don’t even think that was a moment for them, though. Or I should say the opposite. I think it was just that — a moment. I don’t think it was anything else."

She further shared that although she knows Vittorio Assaf, she didn't know him in "that capacity like with my kid or that you were even dating my kid." She said:

"I know this guy growing up myself. He's a restauranteur. I don’t know, I don’t want to get into troubles legally but I think his reputation probably precedes him. Is that okay to say legally?"

Amanda Hirsch further asked Simmons if she felt like saying "'What the helly are you doing to Aoki,' or no?" in response to her relationship with Assaf.

"I was, but I didn’t say it in that way because it was this fast. And it blew up to be so much, so then you can’t be the mom that’s like, ‘What the hell are you doing?' But that definitely was the thing," Simmons responded.

According to Page Six, Assaf is the founder of Serafina Restaurant Group.

"At 4 years old I started cooking with my grandmother at her Wednesday night dinner parties for 40 to 50 people. By the age of 12, my grandmother was getting older and I took over the duty of cooking for all the guests by myself. From there, it was easy to gain the knowledge of the culinary world," Assaf told Natfluence.

He was previously married to Charlotte Bonstrom for over 20 years, and shared two kids, Vittorio Jr. and Valentina, with her.

"Charlotte and I are in the process of getting divorced — she wants to get remarried. [She] is getting married to Thierry Gillier, the ex-husband of her sister," he told the outlet at the time.

In April 2024, he was captured kissing Simmons in St. Barts, but only days later, the couple's split was reported by the aforementioned outlet.

"It's 100% done. They're absolutely not dating," a source close to Aoki reported.

Another source speaking to People Magazine added:

"Not only is it 'over', it was never a thing. Aoki is learning to navigate her private life in a public sphere. And that can be difficult. However, Kimora was concerned to see her daughter in that kind of relationship due to what she herself went through."

Aoki Lee Simmons, 21, is ‘depresso espresso’ after splitting from Vittorio Assaf, 65 — a week after St. Bart’s getaway https://t.co/Uszw1jYHsi pic.twitter.com/cJCj2pcqFS

— Page Six (@PageSix) April 10, 2024

"It went from 0 to 100 really quick": Kimora Lee Simmons on Aoki Lee's relationship with Vittorio Assaf

Furthermore, in the aforementioned interview, Kimora Lee Simmons said that Aoki's relationship with Vittorio Assaf went "from 0 to 100 really quick."

"But it went from 0 to 100 really quick, and I was like, 'Aoki, I didn't even know this was a thing.’ I found out when the world found out. So that was what was so shocking. And you can’t say as a mom, and I’ve learned all these crazy things. You can’t give the, 'I told you so,' right now. You can’t give the, 'What the hell are you doing’ right now. You can’t give those things right now," said Siimmons.

Amanda Hirsch added:

"She was going through it."

Simmons agreed, but added that she finds relationships involving big age gaps predatory.

"It was a lot. But I do think in general, of those kinds of things, I feel like and having gone through not exactly the same but similar…that big age gap relationship, let’s just call it that. I do think it’s predatorial. We said all of that to get to what Kimora thinks about it. I think that’s predatorial and kinda crazy," she said.

Aoki Lee was born on August 16, 2002, to Kimora Lee Simmons and Russell Simmons.