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All About Nicole Richie

Celebutante is an interesting word, a combination of the words celebrity and debutante. Both words describe the very interesting Nicole Richie. Just 28 years old, she can be described as wife, mother, daughter, sister, actress, author, singer, designer, and philanthropist. She’s also described in many less charitable terms, too. These many descriptions are inevitable when living a not-so-simple life in the public eye.

California-girl Richie was born in the spotlight on September 21, 1981. Her father, Peter Michael Escovedo was percussionist to pop-megastar, Lionel Richie. Escovedo is the brother of pop musician Sheila E so little Nicole was surrounded by show business, fame, and fortune from the moment of her birth. Richie’s show-business pedigree extends to godfathers Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones and godmother, Nancy Davis, the second daughter of Marvin Davis, the American industrialist who once owned the Beverly Hills Hotel, 20th Century Fox, the Aspen Skiing Company, and the Denver Broncos professional football team.

Show biz can lead to a turbulent life, one that doesn’t provide the stability a child needs. Perhaps that’s the reason little Nicole went to live with Lionel Richie and wife, Brenda Harvey, when she was just 2; her adoption into the Richie family was formalized when Nicole was 9.

Stability remained elusive for the child. Her adoptive parents separated and later divorced at about the time her adoption was finalized. Of this time, Richie said, “Their way of making me happy was to say yes to everything I wanted,” setting the stage for the self-indulgent extravagance for which she became famous. Her life-long friendship with another rich-kid celebutante, Paris Hilton, is a highly chronicled relationship, with paparazzi and celebrity reporters following their every move.

The two self-described BFFs (best friends for life) starred together in all 56 episodes of the popular reality television series, The Simple Life, from 2003 until 2007. Richie is also listed as producer of the show. In it, Hilton and Richie spent each episode living and working among everyday people, staying in their homes as diverse as trailer houses and farm houses and working in jobs as thankless as sausage makers, hotel maids, and deputy sheriffs. The cameras recorded their every comment in public and private as they worked their way through each episode’s challenges.

Richie played Kelly Stepford in the 2005 movie, Kids in America. Other roles include guest appearances on TV's Eve, Rock Me Baby, American Dreams, 8 Simple Rules, Chuck, and Project Runway, where she was a guest judge.

In the midst of filming The Simple Life, Richie wrote a semi-autobiographical novel, The Truth About Diamonds, which reached the #32 position of the prestigious New York Times Best-Seller List for Hardcover Fiction. The book’s title character, Chloe Parker, gets adopted by a singer, grows up in Hollywood, and battles a drug addiction while enjoying the life of a star-studded jet-setter at the hottest spots around the world.

Richie declined an invitation to play the lead in Chicago, the hit musical that swept Broadway and became an award-winning motion picture. Her piano debut charmed the women of The View on TV and she’s appeared in several music videos, including two by her father (“Love Oh Love,” and “I Call It Love”). In 2009, she enjoyed a brief stint with the rock band, Darling.

Designer Richie debuted House of Harlow 1960 in 2008. The costume-jewelry line is sold exclusively at Kitson’s online, with prices ranging from $50 to $150. Madonna and other celebrities have been photographed wearing House of Harlow 1960 creations. Richie’s designs also include perfume, a style book, fashion accessories, and sunglasses. Since becoming a mother herself, Richie began designing maternity wear for the store, A Pea in the Pod, in 2009.

Along with her glamorous socialite status and busy career came trying times for Richie. She’s been accused of having eating disorders that threaten her life; hypoglycemia was diagnosed in 2007. Her drug use has led to two arrests, a four-day jail sentence, and a very public rift with Hilton. Her high-profile love affairs made headlines, but Richie seems to have settled down to a more peaceful, simpler life as wife and mother.

Joel Madden caught Richie’s eye in 2006; he’s the lead singer of pop punk band, Good Charlotte. The two founded The Richie-Madden Children’s Foundation in 2007 and their own children started arriving the year after that. The couple has two children: a daughter, Harlow, born in 2008 and a son, Sparrow, in 2009. After a cyclone devastated Myanmar in 2008, Richie and Madden co-starred in a public service announcement for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to raise relief aid.

Richie has won an impressive array of awards in a career that is still unfolding. In 2005, she was named Young Hollywood’s Style Icon at the Hollywood Style Awards ceremony. In 2008, Babytalk Magazine awarded her the Golden Pacifier and in 2009, People Magazine honored her with their top award for Best Maternity Style. Other nominations include Teen Choice Awards for Choice TV Personality: Female and Choice V-Cast, a nomination she shared with her Simple Life co-star, Hilton. Bravo also nominated her for its A-List Award under the A-List Everywhere category.

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