Where Are Rev Run's Kids Today?

Between October 2005 and July 2009, Joseph Simmons — better known as Rev. Run, the man who put "Run" in Run DMC — wasn't just a rapper, he was also a reality TV star. The series "Run's House" was an MTV staple for six seasons and 59 episodes, after which it found renewed life in reruns, airing on such networks as Nick Jr., MTV Classic, and BET Her. Set in Saddle River, New Jersey, the show started out with a relatively simple premise, with Run trying to work on his debut solo album while also raising five kids with his wife, Justine Simmons. Occasionally he would seek counsel or assistance from his brother, Def Jam co-founder Russell Simmons, who lived only a short stroll away, but for the most part the series was all about Run and his immediate family. 

Looking back on the reality series on a 2024 episode of "The Jennifer Hudson Show," Rev. Run shared that he not only loved making TV with his family, but loved sharing such an important part of his life with audiences. "Like, you go from rapper to family man in front of the whole world on MTV," he said. "You show your children, you show your wife, you show love, you show unity, you show ups and downs, and you give the world something that they can look at and say, 'Man, I love that. When I get older, I'm gonna have children, I want to treat my wife nice, I want to be kind, I want to be like The Rev.'"

A lot has changed since "Run's House" was originally on the air. Clips of the series are now all over TikTok, the MTV VMAs are on CBS, and Rev. Run's kids are all grown up. Here's what their lives look like now.

The eldest of Rev. Run's kids, Vanessa Simmons was already beginning to find her footing in the acting world while "Run's House" was on the air, appearing on the long-running soap opera "Guiding Light." Since then, she's continued to act, landing roles in projects like the 2016 movie "Better Off Single" and the 2019 series "Games People Play." 

What's more, Vanessa has also continued being herself in front of the camera. In 2009, the "Run's House" spin-off "Daddy's Girls" premiered. The reality show, which ran for two seasons, revolved around Vanessa and her sister Angela Simmons as they started their new business. Since then, Vanessa has been a guest on reality series like "David Tutera's Celebrations" and "Love & Listings." She's popped up on "Hip Hop Squares," hosted "Project Runway: Threads," and was a regular on "Growing Up Hip Hop" for three seasons. 

Run's daughter has landed major gigs outside of the worlds of reality TV and acting, too. In 2022, Vanessa became a spokesperson for Buttah Skin. As she told MEFeater at the time, the founder of the company is a friend, but she'd vouch for the product regardless. She also shared her secret to maintaining her personal brand for all these years: "The best way to be yourself is to just always show up as yourself and be as authentic as possible, because that's really what people will connect with. So my goal is to do the things I love, show up as myself, and be a student of any craft I do. Whether it's entrepreneurship or acting, I make sure that I'm showing up the best way that I can. I put my best foot forward every time."

Vanessa Simmons has been in a relationship with Michael Wayans, son of Damon Wayans, since 2005. (Yes, they are a nepo baby couple that's found lasting love.) The pair welcomed a daughter named Ava Marie Jean Wayans in 2014. If all of this is news to you, well, that's by design. Vanessa and Michael have gone out of their way to keep their personal life personal, which is especially impressive given that they both come from very famous families. 

While Rev. Run's kids more or less grew up on reality TV, his daughter Vanessa evidently has no interest in showcasing her home life all these years later. As she said on a 2025 episode of her brother JoJo Simmons' podcast, "For Good," "I feel like for myself there are just pieces of my life that I'd like to keep to myself and privacy is power and what's secret is sacred. ... [W]e spent almost eight years on TV, that was a lot of our life we gave to the public, and so when I had the opportunity to just reel it in and keep some things to myself, I enjoyed that. Sometimes putting too much eyes ruins things."

Vanessa has felt this way for a while. All the way back in 2017, she explained to Bossip why neither Michael nor Ava appeared on "Growing Up Hip Hop" at the time. "Relationships are hard as it is. Adding the public to it can get more messy," she said. "I just want to keep [Ava's] life as normal as possible for as long as possible."

Angela Simmons continued working with her sister Vanessa Simmons after the conclusion of "Run's House," teaming up with her sibling for "Daddy's Girls," but it wouldn't be her final foray into reality TV. In 2021, she headlined her own series, "Just Angela," for AspireTV. Outside of the reality TV world, Angela has been building a reputation as a businesswoman, a path she first traveled in 2007 when she and Vanessa started their own shoe line, Pastry, within the family shoe line, Run Athletics. In 2020, she began her own beauty line called — what else? — Simmons Beauty.

"I just wanted to do something that I love to do and skincare, especially being at home, we had a lot of time to do whatever we needed, right?" Angela told Revolt in 2021. "Facials, masks, a lot of sitting around. I was like, you know what, I've always loved it and I just felt like it was time to go forward with it." 

What's more, Angela, who is a longtime vegan, founded Angela's Cakes, where she sells a vegan pancake, waffle, and funnel cake dessert mix. In 2024, she joined forces with restaurateur Pinky Cole to create a vegan version of Oreos. The promo, which featured Angela in a bathtub full of cookies, got a lot of tongues wagging — but some of the responses weren't too kind. However, actor Keke Palmer was quick to defend Angela in an Instagram comment. "The way these people are hating in your comments is something VICIOUS! I'm so blown back," Palmer wrote. "Just know you doing EVERYTHING RIGHT. I have never seen people so pressed."

In 2016, Angela Simmons gave birth to her first child, Sutton Tennyson Jr. Two years later, Sutton Tennyson Sr., Angela's ex-fiancé and father of her son, was fatally shot outside his home. The assailant was sentenced to life in prison. 

At the time of his father's death, Simmons and Sutton Sr. were no longer together, and Sutton Jr. was still a toddler. This put Simmons in a tough spot, as she wasn't sure how to talk to her young child about how his dad died. As Simmons said on a 2024 episode of "Baby, This Is Keke Palmer," "How do you tell a kid that's 3 that what [happened]? He kept asking and he would ask his grandmother separately and other people like, 'So what happened?' ... but we're like, 'He's not ready to hear this.'" In a separate chat with Angie Martinez on "In Real Life," Simmons said that she continues to grapple with grief and other complicated feelings surrounding her son's father's death. "I like to keep the conversation alive, and Sutton [Sr.]'s family is amazing with my son ... but hard, very hard. It doesn't get easier," she said. "Nothing replaces a parent."

More recently, Simmons was in a high-profile relationship with rapper Yo Gotti. In 2024, she told Charlemagne Tha God that she could see herself marrying him, but the pair split at the beginning of the following year. "Not by choice, but you know, I respect him," she shared on the aforementioned episode of "In Real Life." Some stuff is better left unsaid. Again, much love and respect to him, he's doing his thing, I'm happy for him."

Joseph "JoJo" Simmons, the third eldest child of Rev. Run, was still just a teenager when "Run's House" began, and now that he is all grown up, it is clear he shares his siblings' entrepreneurial spirit. As of this writing, he is the Chief Brand Officer for a New York-based creative studio called 3isFor. The studio specializes in creating content for organizations with an emphasis on storytelling.

The moment that's meant the most to him since joining the 3isFor team? Getting involved with the Last Prisoner Project in Washington, DC, for the 420 Unity Day of Action in 2024. "I walked alongside advocates, including Kyle Page and Donte West, who were once incarcerated for cannabis-related offenses and are now free, fighting for others still behind bars," Simmons told Authority Magazine. "We rallied at the White House and Capitol to push for cannabis de-scheduling, retroactive relief, and full legalization to address the harms of the War on Drugs. Being there, amplifying their voices, and urging Congress and the President to act felt like storytelling in action — using our platform to drive justice and change for communities disproportionately affected by these policies. It was a powerful reminder of why 3isFor's mission is to create narratives that inspire and uplift." Simmons can also be heard co-hosting 3isFor's "For Good" podcast. 

In 2019, JoJo Simmons married his longtime girlfriend, Tanice Amira, after nine years of dating. Three years before that, they became parents for the first time. "Tanice and I have been together for a long time and have a beautiful daughter," he told People after they tied the knot. "We always knew it would be forever, and this was the perfect time to make it official. Surrounded by our family and closest friends. I've never been happier to be able to call her my wife." JoJo and Tanice's first child, daughter Mia Simmons, was born in 2016. Their second child, son Joey Simmons, arrived in 2021.

Like his siblings, JoJo eventually returned to the reality TV world and joined the cast of the We TV series "Growing Up Hip Hop" and the spinoff "Growing Up Hip Hop: New York." In a 2021 interview with Blavity, JoJo shared that he was happy to invite cameras into his family's life and offer viewers a real look at who they are. "We're being us," he said. "I happen to be on the show and my wife is on here. We got married for us. We didn't get married for any narrative or any storyline, but on the good side is that it does show Black love, and Black young love and I'm happy we can be, I guess, an inspiration to some people for that."

Daniel Dwayne "Diggy" Simmons, Rev. Run's second eldest son, started putting out music when he was a kid. It began with a series of three mixtapes that he released when he was still in school, but he made a major impact on the charts when he released his debut album, "Unexpected Arrival," in 2021. In addition to hitting #2 on the US Rap album chart and #13 on the Billboard Top 200, it also spawned two top 40 rap singles with "Copy, Paste" and "Do It Like You." The latter of which featured Jeremih, and climbed to No. 11 top 40 and hit No. 80 on the Billboard Hot 100.

"A lot of people think I started rapping to follow in my dad's footsteps, but for me it wasn't like that," Simmons told Seventeen in 2012. "It was more about getting my feelings off of my chest. My song, 'Unexpected Arrival,' is about how no matter what people say or think about you, and despite any doubts people have, in the end it's just about your arrival in life. It's about not worrying about getting others' approval."

Despite his initial success, Simmons actually took a six-year break from recording. "I wasn't putting anything out because I was in my head so much," he told Wonderland in 2018. "It became exhausting and not a fun process. I was hung up on 'this has to be better,' or not doing the music because I wasn't feeling the best about myself, I wasn't feeling good enough. A lot was holding me back and a lot of that had to do with a lack of love that I had for myself for many reasons."

Diggy Simmons, who was still in grade school when "Run's House" began filming, has spent a lot of time in front of the camera. And no, not just on reality TV shows. "[My interest in acting] started off some years with a film I was approached to do with Kenya Baris called 'The Start Up,'" Simmons told Schon! magazine. "It was loosely based on me, so getting into character wasn't as much of a challenge as roles I've taken on more recently." He shared that he's only continued to push himself as an actor, seek out training, and put all of his energy into any audition that might come his way. "I'm not doing much else on the side," he said. "The project ends up meaning a lot to me even before I book a role."

That hard work has paid off. Simmons' most high-profile acting gig to date has been Doug Edwards on the "Black-ish" spinoff, "Grown-ish," which also starred Luka Sabbat, Selena Gomez's pal Francia Raisa, and, of course, Yara Shahidi. "Grown-ish" concluded in 2024 after a six-season run on Freeform. In addition to being a hit series that won over critics and audiences alike, "Grown-ish" was a project that Simmons was proud to be part of. "With art, we always reach for it to reflect life and to reflect the times," he told Essence. "Thankfully we'll be able to look back at this show and see that it was a direct depiction of actually what was going on during these times."

As the youngest of Rev. Run's sons, Russell "Russy" Simmons II is no stranger to being in the public eye — after all, he literally grew up on "Run's House" — but he does not really seem to go out of his way to be in the spotlight. In fact, when he and his brother Diggy Simmons chatted with MaximoTV at the 2015 premiere of "Growing Up Hip Hop," it seemed as though the younger Simmons was ready to pursue a path outside of show business altogether. "Right now, I'm working on getting my real estate license," Russy shared. "I'm very excited about doing that." It is unclear whether or not he did indeed get his license; as far as we can tell, he has not gotten into real estate.

Compared to most of his siblings, Russy is a relatively private person, but he does offer some glimpses into his life on social media. On his Instagram page, Russy now describes himself as a screenwriter and an actor while also offering the philosophical mantra, "Always remain a student." As of this writing, however, his IMDb page lists no credits beyond those of his reality shows and appearances on talk shows and awards shows.

Miley Simmons, the youngest member of Rev. Run and Justine Simmons' family, was born in 2007. Tragically, the year prior, her parents welcomed their daughter Victoria Anne Simmons into the world, but she died right after she was born. Victoria's death was a result of an omphalocele, a birth defect which causes a baby's organs to grow on the outside of their body. As a result, Run and Justine Simmons opted not to pursue another pregnancy, instead turning toward adoption. In October 2007, when Miley was just a couple months old, she joined the Simmons family.

"There are still times that I forget that I didn't actually carry her, birth her," Justine wrote in "Old School Love"(via People). "Miley is as much from my body as Victoria was. I want all women to know that if they can't conceive a baby or carry a baby, adoption is truly a miracle. To be able to give a baby love, to be able to give a baby a home, to be able to give a baby a good life — that's the miracle."

Miley grew up in front of the world on "Run's House," "Rev Run's Renovations," "Rev Run's Sunday Suppers," and "Rev. Runs Around the World." She keeps a pretty low profile compared to her parents and siblings, however, maintaining only an Instagram account that hasn't seen a new post since 2014. That said, she does continue to pop up with other members of the Simmons family at various public events.