Kimora Lee Simmons & Djimon Hounsou Talk About Romance

WEDNESDAY JANUARY 16, 2008 06:30 PM EST

Although Kimora Lee Simmons, who split from husband Russell Simmons last year, wasn't looking for romance when she met actor Djimon Hounsou she last February, she found it – and then some.

"I have a lot of hang-ups in life with men. I'm not very trusting," the model and fashion mogul says in an interview in the February issue of Harper's Bazaar. "After my breakup, I thought, I don't need anything. But now I have someone who has the heart, the soul, and the hotness."

Adds the Life in the Fab Lane star: "When you’re not looking, that's when it happens."

On their first date, a dinner with friends at Mr. Chow in Beverly Hills, Simmons found the West African model-turned-movie star of Blood Diamond "deeply compelling and utterly sweet. I immediately got into 'Are you dating?' 'You married?' 'You want kids?' I asked all the things you would never ask someone if you really were trying to date because you would scare them off."

But Hounsou says he wasn't deterred. "My first impression has always been the same, that she's a very beautiful lady, very capable and intelligent and smart with great family values. She's the least high-maintenance lady I've ever dated."

Hounsou praises Simmons’ skills as a businesswoman and a mom, calling daughters Ming Lee, 8, and Aoki Lee, 5, "great kids. I take my hat off to Kimora for the way she's carried them along with her business."

Simmons, in turn, raves about her boyfriend, calling his Calvin Klein underwear ads "hot as hell" and his gym-sculpted body "sick."