Kimora Lee Simmons is defending her daughter Aoki Lee Simmons’ choice to follow her footsteps into modeling while pursuing an Ivy League education at Harvard.
“It’s absolutely absurd,” Simmons, 47, told People when ask about critics questioning why Aoki would pursue modeling while attending the prestigious university.
“We wish Aoki the best and she knows that. So whether it’s in front of the camera or behind the scenes… It doesn’t make you any more or less of a business person or any more or less of a student or a student of the world or any more or less than a model. It’s important to explore all your passions. “
While Simmons supports her daughter pursuing a plethora of passions, she admittedly was hesitant when it came to modeling due to her own experience in the industry.
“I love it that she’s trying to follow in my footsteps. But also I think it’s a pain because if I had had some of what they have, maybe I wouldn’t have been a model. But I think it’s just looking at different sides of a coin,” she admitted, adding, “Whereas she says, ‘Mom, you should be proud.’ It’s like aspirational, this is what people want to do also. And I just feel like sometimes you don’t want your kids to face hardships. I think that’s what any mom would say, right?”
“If I’ve done it and I know it’s tough and I know it’s a little janky. Why would you want to do it? But we love an educated clumsy queen. She is an educated, clumsy queen.”
Aoki, 19, recently took to TikTok to address a follower questioning her career path by asking, “You’re so articulate and obviously educated…how come u chose modeling?”
“Why am I going into a field that doesn’t necessarily require a degree, or require a whole lot of book smarts, when I have a lot of education?” Aoki asked in the video. “One, because I love it. I think we should normalize you liking something. You don’t have to do what you’re immediately good at.”
She added that she would like to move toward a future where smart young women can choose their creative passions without question.
“I would like to change the idea that you can’t be smart and pretty, or you can’t be smart and enjoy your looks, or enjoy a creative/beauty/fashion-based career,” she said. “One that requires plenty of smarts. Two, you can be two kinds of people in one person. That’s really who I am.”