Nicole Richie mini-bio: icole Richie was born in Berkeley, California. Her biological father is widely rumored to be Afro-Latino musician Pete Escovedo, brother of 1980s pop percussionist Sheila E. and son of famed Latin percussionist Pete Escovedo, but this was directly denied by Nicole in the November 2005 issue of Jane magazine. According to an April 2006 Tatler magazine interview with Nicole, her biological father was a drummer who worked with Lionel Richie; her biological mother was a backstage assistant for Lionel. When Nicole was 3, Lionel and his wife Brenda Harvey-Richie informally adopted her and raised her as their daughter. When she was 9, they went through the legal formalities of the adoption; she still speaks with her biological mother who is also of Afro-Latin diaspora - currently resides in the Dominican Republic. On the The Tyra Banks Show in September 2006, Nicole said of her heritage that she was a "mix of everything", but when asked she just says she is Black-American. Her godfather is Michael Jackson.
A year later, Lionel and Brenda split, and in their guilt over the separation, "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. She used marijuana, cocaine, and heroin, was arrested three times, and was involved in five car accidents. Not until she went into drug rehabilitation in 2003 did Richie and her parents have an open conversation about her addiction."I'm now, at 24, just learning to deal with my problems instead of concealing them with drugs," she said in the interview.
Nicole has studied the cello, violin, piano, and figure skating, and has plans to pursue a music career. She also attended the University of Arizona for two years after graduating from high school. She stated, "I went to the University of Arizona. I stopped because I went there for two years and I felt like I experienced college or whatever. I'm over it."
Nicole and Paris Hilton starred in the 2003 reality series The Simple Life, in which they lived for a month with a family in the rural community of Altus, Arkansas. In the second season of Simple Life: Road Trip, the girls traveled the South driving a pink pickup and living in a trailor through out the trip. In the third season The Simple Life: Interns, the girls traveled the East Coast on a bus, staying at 16 different familys' houses. In the fourth season, Simple Life: Til Death Do Us Part, the girls traveled around California, acting as the mother of the family, raising kids for a day and acting as a wife to the father. The simple life season 5 " Going to Camp!" will begin production in November '06 and air in April'07. This well have them being camp counselors.
On April 20, 2005, amid media reports that their friendship was in trouble, Paris Hilton, who had been friends with Richie since childhood, released a statement saying, "It's no big secret that Nicole and I are no longer friends," and "Nicole knows what she did, and that's all I'm ever going to say about it." A circulating rumor was the story that Nicole had shown Paris' sex tape at a party (Richie has denied this [2]). There were also rumors of Hilton's being jealous of Nicole's rising stardom. Hilton released a track on her 2006 self-titled album, called "Jealousy." The track was seen by many to be a jab at Richie, containing such lyrics as "I thought you were my best friend....You used to be that shoulder....you sold your soul for your fame." Richie, however, said "There's nothing that really happened, we've just grown apart." In the November 2005 Jane magazine interview, she also said "We really haven't been friends in probably about two years." Richie is still friends with Paris' sister Nicky Hilton, who was to serve as a bridesmaid at Nicole's wedding, until it was called off in December 2005. On October 9th, 2006 Paris and Nicole reportedly reconciled their friendship. They were spotted enjoying each other's company numerous times. It has been reported that the cause of their long-running fued will be discussed on the upcoming season of 'The Simple Life', where they will once again be filmed together.
Richie made her acting debut with a supporting role in the movie Kids In America. She is also the proud mom of two children that she had with boyfriend Joel Madden. Harlow Winter Kate Madden was born January 11, 2008, and Sparrow James Midnight Madden was born September 9, 2009.
