brutal backstage tales from kimo's tv show
March 28, 2005 -- NOW that
Jules Asner and
Kimora Lee Simmons' "Life & Style" TV show has been canned, stories are being told of donut-licking, lamp-stealing and other typical diva behavior. And controversy-magnet Kimora is first up in the line of fire.
According to a show insider, Kimora's antics drove the cast and crew crazy and contributed to the show's early demise. PAGE SIX has compiled some of the juicier accusations:
* Kimora missed 35 episodes and gave wild excuses — like being in extended mourning for her dead cat.
* Kimora's husband, hip-hop mogul
Russell Simmons, was a repeated on-set nuisance who nagged producers to give his wife a bigger role.
* Kimora called the other hosts —
Jules Asner,
Cynthia Garrett and
Lynne Koplitz — "b*tches and hos" and once berated a Teleprompter operator so badly that he quit on the spot.
* She stole props such as lamps and once made off with an entire rack of lamb from the lunch buffet table. Staff routinely had to be dispatched to the sticky-fingered star's dressing room in order to recover the pilfered booty.
* She forced producers to hire her and Russell's friends for costly no-show jobs, like a celebrity booker for $2,500 a week who never booked a single boldfaced name.
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* The statuesque former model also threatened to beat up an eight-month pregnant assistant, prompting weary producers to send the woman home to avert trouble.
* But perhaps the lowest point came when she supposedly had donuts delivered to the set, then licked each and every one so nobody else could eat them.
The insider also sniped that although Simmons acted like a diva, she didn't even deliver ratings. "Sony hired her to bring in the urban audience, but many in the urban community are turned off by her claims of being 'black,' " our source said. Kimora, who runs the Baby Phat clothing line, is part black and part Asian. Our source concluded: "Basically, the only reason they didn't fire her is because producers thought the publicity would be bad." Sort of like the show. Simmon's rep,
Rob Shuter, tells PAGE SIX: "All these allegations are hurtful and false. Kimora has a dedicated team that she treats like family. She's the hardest-working woman in the business."
ny post pg 6 march 28 2005
http://www.nypost.com/seven/03282005/gossip/pagesix.htm