It’s not every day that you see veteran actor Djimon Hounsou in the news, but all that changed on Wednesday thanks to an unfortunate turn of events. And sadly, it’s his personal affairs that are making waves instead of his professional ones. Let’s get into it!
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According to a newly filed police report, Hounsou alleged that his ex-girlfriend Riza Simpson was at his Atlanta home and eventually assaulted him during an incident in December 2025. He and Simpson share two children, but they decided to part ways; the date of their relationship’s end is unknown. Yet and still, Simpson was reportedly still living in the house with the “Gladiator” star and their two children at the time of the incident.
Per the new report, as obtained by Entertainment Weekly, things went left after Simpson was “given a notice to vacate the premises since he [Hounsou] does not want her to be at the residence.” Upset about the news, Simpson then allegedly “stood by the driver side door of his vehicle inside the garage to retrieve a set of keys for the house when he was trying to leave the location.”
That’s when she started to allegedly hit Hounsou “with a closed fist,” causing one of his eyes to get red and swell up. Per the actor, the injury only exacerbated previous problems he had been experiencing with his eyes, as he ended up telling local authorities that he’d recently undergone surgery on them before this incident.
Thankfully, their two children were upstairs when all this was going down, but Hounsou admitted they likely heard the commotion anyway. As noted by TMZ on Tuesday, Simpson was ultimately charged with obstruction for allegedly “providing false information and refusing to comply with lawful commands” and simple assault- family violence. Once Atlanta PD apprehended her, they claimed that her children were in the background crying.
Neither Simpson nor Hounsou has publicly spoken out about the incident. This marks yet another sad experience for the longtime actor, who’s been open about his struggles landing consistent roles in Hollywood and being paid fairly. Having to deal with industry challenges on top of personal drama? We could only imagine how stressful that could be. Here’s hoping things between the two of them can get resolved peacefully.
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