Meet NCIS star LL Cool J’s wife and their 4 kids, including daughter who followed in his footsteps

Like LL, Simone grew up in Queens, N.Y. The two met as teenagers through a mutual friend. The rapper recalled their first meeting during a 2012 appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, saying: “It was Easter and I was driving down the block in my mother’s car,” when he saw his friend who was with Simone.

While they didn’t start dating then, their love story did begin.

Over two decades after they met and as parents of two kids, Simone and LL tied the knot in a summer ceremony on August 7, 1995. As detailed in his 1997 memoir, I Make My Own Rules, the rapper shared that his proposal to Simone was unconventional.

Instead of getting down on one knee, he asked her while speeding down a road in his Porsche, not slowing down until she said “yes.” To commemorate their 30th wedding anniversary in August 2025, Simone wrote to Instagram: “Marriage isn’t for the weak, it’s for the faithful. It takes work, love, listening, picking your battles, being a friend, a prayer warrior, a cheerleader, and a safe place.”

She continued: “We’ve laughed, cried, prayed, forgiven, and grown—together. We did the work, and God did the rest.”

Before LL and Simone tied the knot, they welcomed their first child together, a boy named Najee Laurent Todd Eugene Smith. The couple’s oldest kid stays out of the spotlight, but works alongside his famous father.

LL and Najee collaborate on his clothing line, Rock The Bells. And the rapper is very proud of his son, telling Oprah’s Master Class: “I don’t want [my kids] to let people set the bar for [them] because I am [their] father,” he said. “Especially for my son. He’ll go and do some work … he’s working because he’s going to be a real person.”

Two years after Najee was born, LL and Simone welcomed daughter Italia Anita Marie Smith. Like her big brother, Italia lives a private life.

After graduating from Northeastern University in 2014, she worked for CBS before pivoting to become a real estate agent. Outside of work, Italia is a mom-of-three. She and her husband Lamar Cardinez share daughter Faith, son King, and a newborn daughter whose name hasn’t been shared.

On September 15, 1995, LL and Simone’s family grew again when they welcomed daughter Samaria Leah Smith. And Samaria seems to be following in her dad’s footsteps.

The 30-year-old, who always loved fashion, studied design and merchandising at the Fashion Institute of Technology in N.Y.C. After graduating, Samaria launched her own brand called Samaria Leah, where she creates “simple, comfortable, and flattering pieces for your everyday wardrobe.”

Outside of her love of fashion, Samaria also has quite a social media presence, with over 300k followers on Instagram.

LL and Simone’s youngest child is their daughter Nina Simone Smith, who was born in August 2000. And unlike her siblings, Nina is in the music world like her dad. In 2019, she released her first single, called “Call Me,” and LL loves to brag about her.

“My youngest daughter Nina, she’s a singer … she really has that gene, and she loves it,” he told Steve Harvey in 2020. “I’m going to support her, but she has to make it. Daddy will help, but you gotta make it. What I am not going to do to my children is ruin their lives by giving them everything they should work for.”

Nina graduated from Berklee College of Music with a bachelor’s degree in songwriting in May 2023, and celebrated her accomplishment with her parents, who were “so proud” of her.