Russell Simmons shares supportive pics of daughter Aoki amid her controversial romance with Vittorio Assaf

Russell Simmons is continuing to post snaps of his 21-year-old daughter, Aoki Lee Simmons, after she was seen locking lips with restaurateur Vittorio Assaf, 65, earlier this week.

The Def Jam Recordings co-founder took to his Instagram Story over the weekend to share several throwback pics of Aoki and her 24-year-old sister, Ming Lee Simmons.

“Happy Sunday,” he captioned one black-and-white photo of the pair when they were children.

He also posted a recent pic of the two girls, along with an inspirational quote that read, “Train your mind to see the good in every situation.”

The music exec previously shared a supportive message after Aoki jetted to the Caribbean with the Italian businessman. Their controversial relationship has made headlines due to their massive age gap.

“Throw back from last fathers day nyc …bode bikram yoga express class .. vegan lunch cryotherapy vitamin drip … all around amazing day ❤️,” Russell, 66, captioned the Instagram post, adding, “@aokileesimmons love you always im always waiting for any call any time ❤️.”

The father of two, who shares his daughters with ex-wife Kimora Lee Simmons, has had tension with the pair over the years.

Last summer, Ming Lee shared a Father’s Day tribute — to her mom.

An enraged Russell responded via Instagram Stories at the time with a post that read, “Stop telling fathers they should have fought harder to see their children & start asking mothers why he had to fight at all.”

A second post read, “The father you have is the perfect father for the evolution of your soul and the lessons that you needed to learn in this lifetime.”

Aoki later chimed in, putting her father on blast in a series of since-deleted messages in which she alleged he had been “awful to [her] for years.” The music exec later apologized.

The Harvard University graduate and rising model has lived most of her life away from the public eye, so little is known about her dating history.

For his part, Assaf was previously married to Charlotte Bonstrom. The model left him in 2021 for her twin sister’s ex-husband, Thierry Gillier. The Serafina co-founder later moved on with 24-year-old model Nya Gatbel before he was seen getting cozy with Aoki.

Assaf has yet to address his new romance publicly. However, Aoki referred to him as her “boyfriend” in a new Instagram Live video that fans have dubbed “creepy” and “disturbing.”