Nicole Richie is the adopted daughter of singer Lionel Richie and gained fame for her role in reality TV. She was born September 21st, 1981 in Berkeley, California as Nicole Camille Escovedo. Lionel Richie became the girl's guardian and Nicole moved in with him and his wife when she was two years old. They raised Nicole as though she was their own daughter and took her to weekly psychotherapy sessions. When Nicole was nine years old, the Richie couple legally adopted Nicole. At this same time, the media disclosed an affair that Lionel had and the Richie's split up. As a result, Nicole Richie was spoiled through this period.

Nicole Richie met Paris Hilton while the girls were in kindergarten together and they became best friends. In 2003, they starred together in the reality TV show called "The Simple Life". The show lasted for three seasons with high ratings until Fox chose not to renew it though it was picked up by "E!" for the fourth through seventh seasons. Ratings steadily dropped and the show was finally canceled. Nicole Richie also took part in other venture while on "The Simple Life".

She wrote a semi-autobiographical book called "The Truth About Diamonds" which was published in 2006 and made it to the number 32 spot on the New York Times Best-Seller List. The next year, Richie began her own fashion line of accessories, perfume and a book about style. Nicole Richie constantly appears in the media tabloids, especially for her arrests for drug abuse in 2003 and drunk driving in 2006.

She has dated DJ AM and they were engaged for a short time before breaking up in 2005. Later, Richie dated Joel Madden from the group Good Charlotte and they had two children together, daughter in 2008 and a son in 2009. They are currently engaged to be married.