Otto was born on 21 December 1589 as the son of Count Simon VI and his wife, Elisabeth of Holstein-Schaumburg (b.

When his father died in 1613, his elder brother Simon VII took up government of the country, while the youngest brother Philip I moved to Bückeburg, where he later founded the Schaumburg-Lippe line.

In 1621, the county was divided again, and Otto received his own part and founded the Lippe-Brake line, which would die out in 1709.

Otto died on 18 November 1657 in Blomberg.

On 30 October 1626, he married Margarethe of Nassau-Dillenburg (6 September 1606 in Beilstein – 1661), a daughter of Count George of Nassau-Dillenburg and Countess Amalia of Sayn-Wittgenstein, with whom he had the following children: This article about a member of the German nobility is a stub.