After Russell Simmons was accused of raping and sexually assaulting numerous women his ex-wife Kimora Lee Simmons shared a statement. "I have known Russell for over 25 years. We were close friends, married, divorced, and have remained friends, co-parents and partners throughout it all," she wrote. "These allegations against him are nothing like the person I have known in all that time. I have known him to be a caring and supportive father and someone who has worked tirelessly to uplift disenfranchised communities.”
As Russell continues to maintain his innocence, another one of his exes has publicly defended him. Katie Rost and Russell first met in 2002 when Kimora hired her on to model for Baby Phat. Before Katie took the job she heard Russell "had a reputation" but never encountered inappropriate behavior with him. When Kimora and Russell divorced in 2009, Katie and the Def Jam mogul began a romantic relationship, she told Page Six. Katie was then offered a position at Global Grind, the blog run by Russell. After six months of dating, Katie walked in on Russell with model Julie Henderson leading her to end the relationship.
“If you’re an overly sexual person or someone who comes on to people … I don’t think that means that you are a predator,” she explained of Russell. “I just wanted to say that I never felt that way about him. I did always feel like he was a womanizer — that he was someone who was going to come on to women, let you know that he wanted you — but there was never any aggressive or even using like a power position type of thing over, at least, me for my situation.”
Katie even recalled a time Russell advocated for her to share her story when she accused her ex-husband James Orsini of abuse. “He was such a strong voice that it sort of took my breath away reading that he might go down in flames," she said.