Russell Simmons is clearing the air on any misconceptions about his reason for living in Bali, Indonesia, amid his ongoing legal battles.
According to the Def Jam founder, his life in Bali has nothing to do with the multiple women who have accused him of sexual assault and misconduct. While many have speculated whether Simmons relocated to Bali to avoid the legal trouble that’s come his way due to the allegations, the hip-hop mogul says the rumors are all “false.”
“People saying that I somehow can’t come home when I’m there all the time wears on
you. It wears on me after a while to keep hearing the same narrative, which is false,” Simmons told AllHipHop.
“I’m always in L.A., I’m always in New York and Miami. And I’ve never had any reason to feel unsafe in America.”
In February, Simmons was sued by a former Def Jam executive for alleged sexual harassment and battery, claiming the label founder used a “wrestling move” to pin her to the bed inside his New York City apartment and raped her in the 1990s. Jane Doe’s suit also accuses Simmons of sexually harassing the plaintiff in her office at work by shutting the door behind him and leaning over her to make sexual advances.
Shortly after the sexual battery suit, Simmons was sued for defamation by Drew Dixon, another former Def Jam Recordings executive who also accused Simmons of sexual assault and harassment during her time at thein the 1990s. Dixon says Simmons subjected her to “public ridicule, contempt, and disgrace” by calling her “a liar in published statements with the malicious intent of discrediting and further damaging Ms. Dixon worldwide.”
Simmons filed a declaration on Wednesday, May 22, clarifying his resident status.
“I am not physically present in New York and I do not have an intention to live in New York in the future,” the declaration states. “I own no property in the United States. I have been living in Bali since 2018, which is where I intend to remain. For at least nine years before I moved to Bali, I lived in California. As a California resident, I paid California resident taxes in the years immediately prior to moving to Bali. Currently, I pay California non-resident state taxes.”
Simmons has denied the allegations made by multiple women but has admitted to being “insensitive” in the past.
“I’ve never been violent to anybody,” Simmons said in December 2023. “Of course I’ve been insensitive, but certainly never been forceful in any of my relationships, all of which I’ve had have been consensual.”
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