Nicole Richie Biography

Nicole Richie, actress and celebutante

Birthdate: September 21, 1981

Birthplace: Berkeley, California

Sign: Virgo

Nicole Richie, the adopted daughter of musician Lionel Richie, came to fame when she appeared on the reality show "The Simple Life" with her best friend heiress Paris Hilton. The show ran for five seasons, during which Nicole's personal life became fodder for the tabloids.

Nicole was born on September 21, 1981 in Berkeley, California. She is reportedly the biological daughter of Pete Escovedo, an Afro-Latin American percussionist who was a member of Lionel Richie's band, and a woman who was a backstage assistant on Lionel's world tour. Over the years Nicole has denied that Escovedo, who is the brother of musician Sheila E., is her father.

At age two, Nicole went to live with Lionel Richie and his wife, Brenda Harvey-Richie. They raised her as their daughter and she was legally adopted by the Richies when she was nine. Despite being raised with money, or maybe because of it, Nicole has a turbulent and troubled childhood. It was reported that she began seeing a psychotherapist at age three and saw one throughout her childhood.

Nicole's godmother is Nancy Davis, who is related to Paris Hilton by marriage. She has two godfathers, Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones.

When the Richies went through a highly-publicized divorce, Nicole took that opportunity to rebel. She said she used the divorce to get everything she wanted because they wanted her to be happy.

Nicole reports that she started drugs casually at the age of 13. She said she ran in wealthy circles and that pot was easy to come by. She said she didn't drink too much but by the time she was 14 or 15 she was into cocaine. She started experimenting with heroin by the time she was 19.

Despite the drugs, during her early years Nicole was a serious figure skater with hopes of achieving Olympic medals. She also studied the guitar, violin, cello and piano.

Nicole attended The Buckley School in Sherman Oaks, California along with Paris Hilton. Nicole graduated from Montclair College Preparatory School in 2000 and then attended the University of Arizona for two years.

Nicole has also appeared in music videos, staring in 1998 with a Tamia music video. Then in 1992 and 2006 she appeared in two Lionel Richie music videos. She was a member of the rock band Darling in 2004.

Nicole's breakthrough was "The Simple Life" television show in which she and Hilton starred as themselves. In the first season of the FOX reality show, the two girls went to live with a family in the rural community of Altus, Arkansas. Each season that followed found the girls in a different situation.

Nicole and Paris had a much publicized fallout in 2005 and did not reconcile until September of 2006, on Nicole's birthday. Like her friend Hilton, Nicole has been arrested for DUI and for possession of drugs and driving with a suspended license. In 2007, Nicole was sentenced to four days in jail, but only served 82 minutes due to overcrowding in the jail.

During the last few years, Nicole dropped weight and the tabloids went crazy with speculation of an eating disorder. Nicole claimed she was not anorexic or bulimic and did not have an eating disorder.

In her romantic life, she was engaged for nine months to DJ AM (Adam Goldstein) and then briefly dated Brody Jenner. She then began dating Joel Madden of the band Good Charlotte, and the two confirmed in 2007 that she was pregnant. Nicole gave birth to a girl, Harlow Winter Kate Madden, on January 11, 2008.