Nicole Richie

Nicole Camille Richie (Escovedo; born September 21, 1981) is an American television personality, fashion designer, and actress.

His 1986 hit song "Ballerina Girl" was written about Nicole.

Brenda Harvey and Lionel Richie legally adopted Nicole when she was nine years old.

When Lionel and Brenda went through a bitter public split, they were indulgent to the young Nicole.

Following the divorce, Lionel remarried and had two more children: Miles (b. 1994) and Sofia (b. 1998).

Richie's godmother is Nancy Davis, daughter of Marvin Davis and mother of Brandon Davis.

Richie regularly interacted with musicians her father knew, including Michael Jackson (who was her godfather), Prince and Kenny Rogers.

Quincy Jones said in a People magazine interview that he has "known Nicole Richie since she was a baby. She's a very smart girl".

Richie graduated from Montclair College Preparatory School in 1999, then attended the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona, alongside Kourtney Kardashian and Luke Walton, where she studied Arts and Media.

She did not have a definitive study plan in Arizona, dropped out after two years, and returned to California.

She came to prominence after appearing in the reality television series The Simple Life (2003–2007), in which she starred alongside her childhood friend and fellow socialite Paris Hilton.

Richie's personal life attracted media attention during the series' five-year run and thereafter.

In 2003, Richie and her best friend, Paris Hilton, starred in 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 premiere debuted on Fox on December 2, 2003, to 13 million viewers, increasing Fox's reach among viewers 18–49.

The series continued for a second and third season.

Fox subsequently canceled the show after a dispute between Hilton and Richie, but it was aired by E! Entertainment Television for its fourth season, drawing nearly one million viewers and was followed by a relatively unsuccessful fifth season.

Complications arose during production of the fifth season, with both Richie and Hilton facing major charges for DUI, and at risk of serving jail time.

Hilton was sentenced to 23 days in jail, though this was after production of the season had finished.

Richie accepted a plea agreement and was sentenced to four days in jail, again after production had wrapped.

Despite talks of a sixth season, the series finished its run at the end of the moderately unsuccessful fifth season.

In 2005, Richie made her acting debut in the comedy film Kids in America.

Richie has guest starred in television series including Eve, Six Feet Under, American Dreams, 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter, and Chuck.

Richie appeared as a guest judge during the premiere episode of the seventh season of the reality competition series Project Runway.

"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 a 2006 interview with Vanity Fair.

Following the conclusion of The Simple Life, Richie continued her career in television, appearing as one of the three judges on the reality competition series Fashion Star (2012–2013).

From 2012 to 2013, she judged the reality competition series Fashion Star.

She later starred in the unscripted comedy series Candidly Nicole (2014–2015), which ran for two seasons.

From 2014 to 2015, Richie starred in the unscripted comedy series Candidly Nicole.

It is loosely based on Richie's posts on Twitter.

In 2016, Richie was cast as Portia Scott-Griffith, a news anchor, in the sitcom Great News, created by Tracey Wigfield and produced by Wigfield and Tina Fey.

The acting role marked Richie's first as a regular on a television series.

From 2017 to 2018, Richie starred in her first series regular acting role as Portia Scott-Griffith in the sitcom Great News.

In 2020, she became a judge on the reality competition series Making the Cut.

In fashion, she is the founder of the lifestyle brand House of Harlow.

Richie has also published two novels.

Nicole Camille Escovedo was born in Berkeley, California.

She is of English, Mexican, and Creole African-American descent.

Her biological father, Peter Michael Escovedo, is the brother of musician Sheila E. and nephew of guitarist Alejandro Escovedo, and her biological mother is Karen Moss.

When she was three years old, her biological parents decided to leave her under the care of Lionel Richie and his first wife Brenda Harvey Richie's family because they could not afford to provide for her.

Initially, Lionel and Brenda Harvey Richie became her guardians.