Kimora Lee Simmons Does Not Want Tim Leissner to Have Primary Custody of Their Son
Kimora Lee Simmons and Tim Leissner’s divorce briefly took a very unexpected turn this week, though it turns out the twist wasn’t what it appeared to be. While Leissner filed the divorce paperwork seeking joint custody of the 11-year-old son he shares with Simmons, a court filing appeared to show Simmons asking a judge to grant Leissner primary custody instead. The request was a shocking departure from Kimora’s approach to family and parenting. According to a source close to the matter, that request was never real. A clerical error is reportedly to blame.
A clerical error led to a lot of questions about Kimora Lee Simmons’ divorce
Kimora Lee Simmons has finally gotten around to responding to Tim Leissner’s divorce petition. She’s totally in agreement that the marriage needs to end, but her filing initially appeared to break from him on how custody should be split. According to paperwork obtained by TMZ, the response checked the box for Leissner to receive primary legal and physical custody of their shared 11-year-old, despite the father having asked a judge for joint physical and legal custody of the boy.
The apparent request quickly drew attention, especially given that Simmons has previously described herself as the “primary parent” to all of her children. A source with direct knowledge of the situation later told TMZ that the custody box was checked incorrectly, and that Simmons has no intention of giving up custody of 11-year-old Wolfe. According to the source, Simmons has had full custody of Wolfe since she and Leissner separated in 2020, and nothing about that arrangement has changed.
Simmons filed out the rest of her paperwork correctly, though. She has asked a judge to block Leissner from seeking spousal support from her, while asking the court to order him to pay her spousal support instead. She’d also like Leissner to cover her legal fees.
Kimora and the former Goldman Sachs banker were married for 12 years before he filed to dissolve the union. Still, they split a long time ago. Their son was born shortly after they wed, though he’s not Simmons’ first child.
Kimora is the mother of four
Wolfe Leissner is the only child mentioned in the divorce proceedings, but he isn’t Kimora Lee Simmons’ only child. Kimora has two children from her marriage to Russell Simmons. Their daughters, Ming and Aoki, are both adults. Kimora and Russell finalized their divorce in 2009 after 11 years of marriage.
Kimora also shares a son with Djimon Hounsou. Kenzo was born in 2009. She adopted her son, Gary, in 2020 as a single parent, and regularly talks about her “bonus son” Jayden, who has lived with the family off-and-on for years.
Kimora has opened up about parenting and, more specifically, coparenting, in recent years. She’s said in past interviews that she doesn’t have much of an ongoing relationship with any of the men she shares kids with, joking that she serves as “the mom, the dad, the president and the CFO” of her own family. Given that history, it’s not surprising a filing suggesting she wanted to hand primary custody to Leissner raised eyebrows so quickly, or that it turned out to be a paperwork mix-up rather than an actual shift in her desire to parent one of her children.
