Djimon Hounsou’s Custody Battle with His Ex Partner over His Son Is Still Ongoing

Djimon Hounsou is currently embroiled in a custody battle with his ex partner Kimora Lee Simmons for his son Kenzo Lee Hounsou.

The matter started in 2019 when a video of him complaining about not being able to see his kid surfaced. 

The Avengers: Endgame star revealed in the video that he didn’t get to see his son on Father’s Day. He also implied that Kimora kept him away from Kenzo.

“It would have been nice to see my son on Father’s Day,” he said.

Two days after he made his side of the story known, a source close to his ex-girlfriend responded to his allegation.

“He had every opportunity to make Father’s Day plans, but simply didn’t,” the source explained.

They further added that Kimora had an open-door policy for visitation. She didn’t try to keep Hounsou from his son and even encouraged the whole family to get together as often as possible.

Not long after these incidents took place, Hounsou and his former partner began working out a custody agreement between themselves.

Custody Agreement

While the news of Hounsou and Kimora working on a custody agreement came out in June 2019, no further updates have been reported.

Before the aforementioned incidents, the two had a relaxed custody agreement. But a week after the video surfaced, Hounsou and Kimora started working towards an official agreement.

Back when the pair’s relationship had first soured, Hounsou had stated that he planned on taking Kenzo with him to Africa.

After learning of his intentions, Kimora and her ex husband Russell Simmons had tried to convince the actor to sign an agreement promising not to take Kenzo out of the country.

However, Hounsou had refused to sign the agreement.

It’s not known if Hounsou and his ex partner have come to an agreement, but things seem to have calmed down between the two.

He took to Instagram in May 2021 to wish Kimora a happy Mother’s Day. The post contained an image of his ex partner with their son.

In contrast, he had uploaded a picture of himself and Kenzo back in July 2019. Building upon his previous story of not being able to see his kid, he had added #Thinkingofyou on the caption.

Djimon Hounsou with son Kenzo Lee Hounsou (Source: Instagram)

Djimon Hounsou and Ex Partner

Hounsou and Kimora got together in 2007. While they never got married, the duo had participated in a traditional Benin commitment ceremony in 2008.

Four years after the ceremony, rumors saying the two had called it quits surfaced. Daily Mail reported in June 2012 that they had split after a “big fight over money.”

They announced their separation in November 2012.

Kimora Lee Simmons with her kids (Source: Instagram)

While Hounsou and Kimora did not have any other kids together, she has three more kids from two other marriages.

She was married to Russell Simmons from 1998 to 2006. During that time, the couple welcomed two kids together—daughter Ming Lee Simmons and daughter Aoki Lee Simmons.

Kimora married Tim Leissner in February 2014. Together, they are parents of Wolfe Lee Leissner, who was born in April 2015.

She also adopted 10-year-old Gary Lee in January 2020, making her mother to five kids.