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The pair met in November 1992 during New York City’s Fashion Week. She was 17 and about to finish high school; he was 35 and a self-admitted ladies man.
“I was skeptical,” model Tyra Banks told PEOPLE in 2002 of her initial reaction to the relationship. But, she said: “She turned the man about town into a loving husband and papa.”
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Russell Simmons is the most important businessman in the history of rap music. As co-founder of the Def Jam label, Simmons’ street-friendly taste and marketing savvy helped bring hip-hop crashing into the mainstream of American culture and mass media.
He’s often been compared to Motown impresario Berry Gordy, but there’s one important difference: Where Gordy strove to make assimilationist R&B that would be considered respectable by pop audiences, Simmons ensured that his artists remained as uncompromisingly rebellious as possible. That attitude made hip-hop a music of choice for a generation of teenagers simply by staying true to its roots; it was a multi-cultural phenomenon that succeeded — more or less — on its own terms. Simmons was the entrepreneur who shepherded rap music into big business, gradually building his own communications company into the largest black-owned enterprise in the industry. By the time he sold Def Jam for 100 million dollars in 1999, he was one of the most respected figures in the rap business, and continued to take an active interest in shaping the culture’s future direction.
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Berry’s first marriage was to former baseball player David Justice. The couple separated in 1996 and their divorce was finalized in 1997. Justice played with the Atlanta Braves and experienced a measure of fame as the team rose to prominence in the early 1990s. The couple found it difficult to maintain their relationship while he was playing baseball and she was filming elsewhere. Berry has stated publicly that she was so depressed after her breakup with Justice that she considered taking her own life but she could not bear the thought of her mother finding her body.
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