Nicole Richie (born on September 21, 1981) is a socialite best known for her
role in The Simple Life. Nicole Richie was born in Berkeley, California. Her
biological father is unknown. Her mother is a woman identified only as an assistant
on Lionel Richie's 1980 world tour. When Nicole Richie was 9, Richie formally
adopted her. Nicole is of Caucasian, African American, and Mexican descent.
Nicole is trained in 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. I like Hollywood better". Nicole Richie
made her musical debut in February 2005 with a live appearance on ABC's The
View playing the piano. Her godfather is Michael Jackson. Richie and 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. Later seasons
of the show had Richie and Hilton in a road-trip across the United States, and
an East Coast trek on a Greyhound bus while performing various internships.
Nicole Richie has also made appearances in films and Fox's Madtv. Her first
major acting role was a supporting role as cheerleader Kelly Stepford in 2005
comedy Kids In America. Richie recently wrote a semi-autobiographical novel,
The Truth About Diamonds. The novel is loosely based on her life, but is mostly
fictional. It chronicles 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. Rumors have said that a character in the book,
Simone Westlake, is based on Nicole Richie's ex-best friend, Paris Hilton. Simone
does a few things extremely similar to Hilton, such as "accidentally on
purpose" losing her cell phone and letting out the phone numbers of celebrities
to the general public. While former best friend Paris Hilton has the catchphrase
"That's Hot", Nicole has one of her own in the same vein: "Loves
It".
Another current project of Nicole Richie's is an album, with no release date
specified as of yet. The seven songs reported to be done so far are a mixture
of rock, soul and dance. Richie is set to inherit her father's $365 million
dollar fortune. She was engaged to club DJ Adam Goldstein also known as D.J.
AM. Instead of a diamond ring Goldstein proposed with a sapphire ring, the stone
of her birth. They announced their engagement in February 2005 after dating
since 2003 and were set to marry in early 2006. On December 7th, 2005, she and
Adam broke off their 9 month engagement. Since that time, Nicole has been linked
with Kevin Lafreniere and with MTV's "Jackass" star Steve-O.
In February of 2003, Nicole Richie was arrested in Malibu, California, and
charged with possession of heroin. She has since been through rehab. In December
of 2003, she publicly spoke out in defense of her godfather Michael Jackson
following his accusations of child molestation. Following the 2003 Billboard
Music Awards, the Federal Communications Commission received 80,000 complaints
after Richie said, "fuck," and was not bleeped. This was the FCC complaint
record, until it was broken following Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake's
appearance at Super Bowl XXXVIII. She briefly dated Canadian music producer
and entrepreneur Brad Salyn in 2002. On 20 April 2005, amidst media reports
that their friendship was in trouble, Paris Hilton 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 involved a story that Nicole Richie had shown Paris' sex
tape at a party. There were also rumors of Hilton being jealous of Nicole's
rising star. Richie is still friends with Paris' sister Nicky, who was to serve
as a bridesmaid at Nicole's wedding until it was called off in December, 2005.
Recently, Nicole Richie has spoken out about Paris. She has said that there
was never a real falling out, that she and Paris have just drifted apart and
haven't been friends for about two years. Nicole has also said she doesn't see
herself making up with Paris and that if they were to meet "at a mall or
something, we would just not talk." In 2005 Richie appeared and co-hosted
at the 19th Annual Soul Train Music Awards. Initially, because of the end of
Nicole Richie's friendship with Paris Hilton, Kimberly Stewart or not as publicly
known Manhattan socialite Bethany Carkhuff were tapped to be Nicole's replacement
in The Simple Life 4. Nicole Richie and fiancee Goldstein were said to be considering
a Jessica Simpson-type reality show of their own. Nicole has since said that
she would never agree to doing a reality show about her personal life and relationships.
Fox, the network behind The Simple Life, has announced that the next year, entitled
The Simple Life 4, has been canceled as the show's stars "no longer proved
compatible".
On November 10, 2005 on The Tonight Show she said that she and Paris Hilton
will do the show but tape their segments separately. In early 2005, Nicole Richie
was ridiculed by media members who claimed that she had an eating disorder.
Nicole Richie has lost about twenty pounds, weighing a mere ninety-seven pounds,
since her rise to stardom in 2003 with The Simple Life Season 1. Nicole has
been quoted as saying "I've always been really skinny. I just went through
a heavier stage after rehab and during Simple Life 1. Now I have a trainer and
the weight has gradually come off." On December 1st, 2005, Nicole Richie
signed a deal with 20th Century Fox Television that could land her in a TV sitcom.
Richie's deal could either put her into an existing show or have a new show
built around her. Nicole Richie is rumoured to be joining the cast of The OC
in it's fourth season. Richie (sometimes also credited as Ritchie) is the former
face of Bongo Jeans, and the current face of Jimmy Choo. She was also signed
to be the face of promotion for Green M&M's in Australia, however the candy
company behind M&M's were worried that Richie's slender appearance was not
right for the promotion of candy, and instead signed actress Pamela Anderson.
Nicole Richie, however rose above the disappointment, and soon after landed
herself the position of promotional face for Diet Dr Pepper, and has been seen
promoting the soft drink in several locations.
