Yesterday (Mon., Mar. 9), several celebrity news sites were reporting that St. Louis native Kimora Lee Simmons and Djimon Hounsou had been secretly married since last summer.
The New York Daily News said the celebs were hitched in Hounsou’s native Benin, Africa, But a rep for Simmons tells Us Weekly that the report is only partially true. There was a ceremony in Benin, but it was a commitment ritual.
“The couple is very happy and dedicated to each other one hundred percent,” said Simmons’ rep.
The couple is currently expecting their first child together and they went to Africa to meet Hounsou’s family and decided to have the traditional ceremony “since they knew it was a special opportunity to all be together,” a source told Us Magazine.
They “did it to show how committed to each other they are in front of his family,” the source said, emphasizing that it was not a wedding. For now, the couple is “not engaged,” added the source. “Everything is great with them and they are happily awaiting the birth of their child together.”
“Both Kimora and Djimon wore traditional dashikis,” according to the New York Daily News, which had reported the ceremony Monday as a wedding. “There were African drums, a traditional ceremony with dancers . . . they even had a hut!”
Present for the festivities were Kimora’s daughters Aoki and Ming, as well as a nanny and photographer.
“Aoki slept through the entire ceremony, and Ming cried. They were pretty confused as to what was going on,” the source told the Daily News.
Information from Eurweb.com, Nydailynews.com and Usmagazine.com contributed to this report.
