Nicole Camille Richie (born September 21, 1981) is an American
actress,
author,
socialite,
celebutante,
singer, and
television personality. The adopted daughter of
soul singer
Lionel Richie, she is perhaps best known for her role in the Fox reality television series
The Simple Life, alongside fellow socialite and former best friend
Paris Hilton.
Early life and family
Nicole Richie was born
Nicole Camille Escovedo in Berkeley, California.
[According to the State of California. California Birth Index, 1905-1995. Center for Health Statistics, California Department of Health Services, Sacramento, California. At Ancestry.com] In an interview with
Ryan Seacrest in November 2005, Richie stated that she doesn't publicly identify her birth parents "for confidentiality reasons," and that they were friends of Lionel Richie and his wife Brenda before her birth.
At first, Lionel became her guardian.
Then at age 2, Nicole went to live with Richie and his wife, Brenda Harvey, who began to raise her as their daughter. When she was three years old, Nicole began attending weekly sessions with a psychotherapist and remained in therapy throughout her childhood. She was legally adopted by the Richies when she was nine. Shortly after the adoption was formalized, Lionel's affair with another woman became public knowledge.
The Richies went through a highly-publicized, bitterly acrimonious split, and as a result, indulged Nicole's every whim. "Their way of making me happy was to say yes to everything I wanted, but I don't think a little girl should have that much freedom," said Richie in an interview with
Vanity Fair magazine.
[Vanity Fair - Press Room: Nicole Richie Talks About Her Weight, Being a Role Model, and What Happened with Paris.] Lionel Richie remarried following the divorce, and through him, Nicole has two younger siblings, Myles (born 1994) and Sofia (born 1998).
Richie has one godmother, Nancy Davis, daughter of
Marvin Davis and mother of Brandon Davis. Richie's godfathers are
Michael Jackson and
Quincy Jones. Jones said in a
People magazine interview that he has "known Nicole Richie since she was a baby. She's a very smart girl".
Education
In addition to
figure skating, Richie studied the
guitar,
cello,
violin, and
piano. In 1986, she started kindergarten at
The Buckley School in
Sherman Oaks, California where she met
Paris Hilton. Richie graduated from
Montclair College Preparatory School in 1999. She also studied Arts and Media for two years at the
University of Arizona.
[Celebrity Central: Nicole Richie. People.com. retrieved 2007-08-10]
Acting
In 2003, Richie and best friend
Paris Hilton starred in Season 1 of the
reality series The Simple Life, in which they lived for a month with a family in the rural community of
Altus, Arkansas. The series debuted on
Fox on December 2, 2003, to high ratings. The premiere episode drew 13 million viewers, increasing Fox's Adults 18-49 rating to 79%.
[Rogers, Steve. FOX's 'The Simple Life' premiere draws 13 million viewers and the night's highest Adults 18-49 rating. Reality TV World. 3 December 2003.]
In Season 2,
The Simple Life 2: Road Trip, the girls traveled the
South driving a pink pick-up and living in a trailer. The girls had no money, credit cards or cell phones and were required to work various jobs during their trip to earn money. Their jobs included farm workers, mermaids in an underwater show, hotel maids, sausage makers, crawfishers, working for a baseball team, working in a beauty salon, Deputy Sheriffs, and working on a cattle ranch. The girls also stayed with different families or in trailer parks and on one occasion, a
nudist resort.
In Season 3,
The Simple Life 3: Interns, the girls traveled the
East Coast on a bus, staying at 15 different families' houses. Unlike Season 2, the girls did not have a swanky home on wheels and instead were traveling around the north-east in a regular
Greyhound bus that was also ferrying normal members of the public that were traveling to the same destination.
In late 2005, Fox chose not to renew
The Simple Life, explaining that they didn't see a place for it in their schedule.
[Silverman, Stephen M. Paris & Nicole's Simple Life Canned. People.com. 13 October 2005.] A month later, cable network
E! picked up the series for its fourth season.
The Simple Life 4: 'Til Death Do Us Part, followed the girls as they traveled around
California, acting as wife and mother to various families, though both would do tasks separately and not be seen together on screen.
[E!Online - The Simple Life Lives. E! Online.com.]
The Simple Life 5: The Simple Life Goes To Camp, debuted on E! on May 28, 2007, with Hilton and Richie reconciling on Richie's birthday in the season opener. For Season 5, Hilton and Richie worked as counselors at Camp Shawnee. The camp was host to five different specialty groups: Wellness Camp, Pageant Camp, Couples Camp, Survival Camp and Drama Camp, with two episodes focused on each specialty group.
Although Season 4 was a hit for E!, drawing nearly one million viewers per episode, Season 5 saw a sharp decline in ratings. While the premiere episode and ones that followed during this season drew about the same viewership, by the 7th episode the ratings had declined to around 700,000 viewers. It was announced on July 30, 2007 that the show would not be renewed for a sixth season.
[Serpe, Gina. E! News - A Simple Goodbye for Paris, Nicole. E! Online.com. 30 July 2007.]
In 2005, Richie made her acting debut in the comedic drama
Kids in America. Richie has guest starred in television series including
Eve,
Six Feet Under and
American Dreams, 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter and
Chuck.
In July 2008, plans were announced to turn Richie's 2005 novel,
The Truth About Diamonds, into a television series.
Other work
Writing
In 2005, Richie wrote a semi-autobiographical novel,
The Truth About Diamonds, which was released by Bharell Jackson Publishing. The novel is loosely based on her life, but is mostly fictional. It chronicles the life of Chloe Parker, the adopted daughter of a singer who makes her way through all of the hottest nightclubs and parties in Hollywood and battles a drug addiction.
In early January 2006,
The Truth About Diamonds peaked at number #32 in Hardcover Fiction on
The New York Times Best-Seller List.
[The New York Times Best-Seller List: January 2006 February 29, 2008. ]
Designer
In April 2007, Richie announced plans to start a jewelry, accessories, and sunglasses line along with a perfume and style book.
[Nicole Richie Launching Signature Fragrance And Accessories Lines. ExpoSay.com. 2 LMAOOO April 2007.] In October 2008, she debuted a jewelry line,
House of Harlow 1960.
The line became available at Kitson's online boutique.
[Nicole Richie’s House of Harlow 1960 Jewelry Line Now on Sale New York Magazine. 10/29/08. Retrieved August 5, 2009]
In 2009, Richie joined maternity store
A Pea in the Pod to create the new collection maternity clothes.
Music
Richie was a member of the rock band "Darling" in 2009 along with
Josie Maran and Soleil and Sofia Alberti.
[real lives: Nicole Richie. The Biography Channel. ] A year later, she made her musical debut on
The View playing the piano.Although widely speculated that Richie is working on an album, she told
People that it's not true; however, she said "I do eventually
to record an album, but right now I have a lot on my plate"
[www.people.com/people/article/0,,20246898,00.html]. Richie also released a single in 2004 called "Dandelion".
In 2004, she auditioned for the part of Maureen in the popular Broadway hit,
Rent, but did not get the part. In 2008, she was offered the lead role in the hit musical
Chicago as Roxie Hart.
[UsWeekly Nicole Richie Offered Lead Role in "Chicago." February 29, 2008. ]
Personal life
In April 2005, reports surfaced that Richie and longtime friend
Paris Hilton were no longer speaking. Hilton commented on the reports stating, "It's no big secret that Nicole and I are no longer friends. Nicole knows what she did, and that's all I'm ever going to say about it."
Neither Richie nor Hilton ever spoke publicly about the cause of the split, though rumors suggested that the pair fell out due to Nicole showing one of Paris' home made sex tapes to a group of their friends. The two eventually reconciled in October 2006.
[Alexander, Bryan and Lisa Ingrassia. Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie: Friends again? People.com. 10 October 2006.]
In early 2006, Richie made headlines with a dramatically thinner appearance, after spending two seasons of
The Simple Life slightly heavier than her usual weight.
[Fast-Shrinking Teen Queens Influence Young Girls. ABCnew.go.com. 13 May 2005.] In May she told
Vanity Fair, "I know I'm too thin right now, so I wouldn't want any young girl looking at me and saying, 'That's what I want to look like.'"
[CNN Showbiz Tonight transcript of May 5, 2006] She also said, "I started seeing a
nutritionist and a doctor. I was scared that it could be something more serious."
During this time it was reported that she had also sought the help of a
psychiatrist and a
personal trainer.
[Lehner, Marla. [www.people.com/people/article/0,,1190900,00.html "Nicole Richie: 'I'm Too Thin' "] People.com. 4 May 2006.] Later that year, in September, Richie stated "I am not
anorexic. I am not
bulimic. I do not have an
eating disorder."
On October 27, 2006, it was announced that Richie was seeking treatment for "an inability to put on weight," though it is not treatment for an eating disorder.
In March 2007, Richie was taken to the hospital for dehydration. On March 21, her reps announced she was diagnosed with
hypoglycemia.
["Rep Says Nicole Richie Is Hypoglycemic." People.com. 21 March 2007.]
Richie has had a string of high-profile relationships. She dated DJ AM (
Adam Goldstein) from 2003 to 2005, and they broke up after a nine-month engagement.
Richie was also briefly linked to childhood friend
Brody Jenner of MTV's
The Hills.
Richie's highest profile relationship thus far has been with
Good Charlotte lead singer
Joel Madden. They have two children: daughter Harlow Winter Kate Madden (born January 11, 2008)
and son Sparrow James Midnight Madden (born September 9, 2009).
[nicolerichie.celebuzz.com/2009/09/excited-to-announce/]
In October 2009, Richie was rear-ended by a photographer. She was reportedly injured at the scene, but declined a lift to the emergency room, instead seeking medical treatment from her own doctors. The photographer was arrested on suspicion of driving without a license. Richie has yet to comment on the incident.
[www.digitalspy.co.uk/showbiz/a180698/nicole-richie-hurt-in-car-accident.html]
Legal problems
In February 2003, Richie was arrested in
Malibu, California and charged with possession of
heroin while driving with a suspended
driver's license.
[The Smoking Gun - May 9, 2003. The Smoking Gun. 9 May 2003.]
On December 11, 2006, Richie was arrested by the
California Highway Patrol after she failed a field sobriety test. She was charged with
driving under the influence on
State Route 134 in the
Burbank/
Glendale, California area. Several motorists had reported a black
Mercedes-Benz G-Class entering the SR134 freeway on the exit ramp and traveling in the wrong direction.
[Lee, Ken and Stephen M. Silverman. Police: Nicole Said She Smoked Pot, Took Vicodin. People magazine. December 13, 2006.] She admitted to using
marijuana and
Vicodin before the incident.
July 27, 2007, Richie was sentenced to four days in jail,
[TV Star Jailed Over Drug-Driving. Sky News.com. 28 July 28 2007.] but served only about 82 minutes of the sentence as Richie checked herself into the Century Regional Detention Center in
Lynwood, California on August 23, 2007 at 15:15 PDT and was released at 16:37 PDT.
A spokeswoman for the sheriff's department told
People magazine that Richie "was released early due to overcrowding in the jail system. This is standard procedure for nonviolent offenders." After spending 82 minutes in jail, Richie was "Of course pleasantly surprised to be released so quickly," said her attorney.
Richie signed up for an 18-month SB 38 anti-drinking driver education program, according to papers filed with the Superior Court of California.
Charity
In November 2007, Richie and
Joel Madden created "The Richie Madden Children's Foundation".
In May 2008, Nicole and Joel shot a
UNICEF public-service announcement to generate aid for the cyclone-devastated Myanmar.
[UNICEF: Nicole Richie & Joel Madden PSA for Myanmar YouTube.com. Retrieved on August 5, 2009.]
Filmography
Discography
Singles
| Year
| Song
| Certification
| Album
|
| 2005
| "Dandelion (Demo Version)"
| —
| Unreleased (Leaked Track)
|
Music videos
Awards and nominations
See also
