Things You Might Not Know About Nicole Richie And Joel Madden’s Relationship

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9. Marriage Was Always in the Cards

Within six months of dating, the Candidly Nicole star was pregnant and the couple was already talking about marriage. “Obviously, marriage is in our future,” the Good Charlotte singer told Ryan Seacrest. “Don’t know when or where or how, but right now our priority is our family and is the baby. That’s all we’ve been thinking about. We are in love and are really happy.”

A photo posted by @nicolerichie on Jun 19, 2016 at 10:55am PDT

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8. Children of Divorce

Both Joel and Nicole come from broken homes but, once she got pregnant, they made sure that they would find a way to make it work no matter what. “We met and we were partners from day one. And from the second we found out we were going to parents together, we looked at each other and we said, ‘Okay, both of our parents are divorced. We both have had ups and downs with our parents and we don’t really have a strong example of what a healthy family life is. But, we’re recognizing that now, so let’s work at it and let’s go through this together as a team.’ It’s been great,” Nicole told Oprah on her Where Are They Now? series. “And I would say that’s the easiest and hardest part.”

Everett Collection / Shutterstock.com

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7. Engagement

The former Simple Life star announced her engagement to the world by appearing on The Late Show with David Letterman wearing an engagement ring in 2010. Joel responded on Facebook telling fans that he and Nicole had already been engaged for a while. “Yep. i’m engaged. Very happy. Yeah we’ve been engaged for a while so your all kind of late on that. But Thanks for the hooplah all the same,” he tweeted.

Dee Cercone/Everett Collection

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6. Wedding

They were married in December 2010 in front of 130 guests at her father Lionel Richie’s estate. She wore a white dress by Marchesa, their rings were by Neil Lane and guests included Benji Madden, Sam Ronson, Khloe Kardashian, as well as Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale. Nicole told People that the ceremony and celebration were “magical” and that it “was the best night of her [her] life.”

Elizabeth Goodenough/Everett Collection

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5. Meeting the Folks

Things between Nicole and Joel got serious fast. According to the reality TV star, the Good Charlotte rocker met her parents, Lionel Richie and his first wife Brenda, almost immediately. “I brought him over to my dad’s house,” she told Harper’s Bazaar. “They’re both musicians, they’re both from the South, and they’re both very conservative, so they got along right away.”

Photo by Sam Ruttyn/Newspix / Rex Features

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4. His Admiration for His Wife

Joel told OK! Magazine that he hopes his daughter, Harlow, becomes a strong woman, just like her mommy. “My daughter – I hope she’s like her mom because her mom is one of the strongest women I’ve ever met. You cannot f**k with her. You can’t f**k with Nicole, even if you think you are f*cking with her. I’ve never met anyone on her level. She’s just on a whole other level. I just hope that Harlow is like that.”

A photo posted by @nicolerichie on Mar 23, 2014 at 12:48pm PDT

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3. Philanthropy

In 2007, they created The Richie Madden Children’s Foundation. According to Nicole, they started the foundation because of all of the gifts that Harlow received that they didn’t need. “I got like 10 cribs and 20 strollers. For one little girl! So we wanted to take the gifts we got and give them to the people who actually needed them,” she told Harper’s Bazaar. They celebrated the launch of the foundation with a surprise baby shower for 100 expectant mothers at the Los Angeles Free Clinic. They handed out more than $200,000 worth of gifts, including Fisher-Price toys, Dr. Brown’s bottles, Oopa baby slings, Graco products, including strollers and high-chairs, Baby Bjorns, cribs, mattresses, diapers and socks.

Photo by Rob Latour / Rex Features

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2. Naming Their Children

The couple has two children, Harlow Winter Kate, born in 2008, and Sparrow James Midnight, born in 2009. According to Joel, he and Nicole called their son Sparrow so that he would have something to stand up for. “There’s also the Captain Jack Sparrow connection. It reminded me of the Johnny Cash song ‘A Boy Named Sue.’ My worry raising a son in Hollywood is what will he have to struggle for? I wanted to give him a name that he’s going to have to stand up for. I love it; I think it’s a beautiful name,” he told People.

Photo by Mike Webster / Rex Features

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1. Providing Stability

One thing that Nicole and Joel try to provide their children with is stability. “Joel and I both grew up in what other people would call an unstable home. We both come from divorced parents and did a lot of moving around, so it’s very important to us to create a stable environment for our kids… or at least try to,” she told the Telegraph. This means that Sundays are exclusively for the family. “I am not available to anybody but family, and we’re at the house all day, cooking and hanging out,” she said.

A photo posted by @nicolerichie on May 27, 2013 at 2:59pm PDT

Cate

Cate has a B.A. and an M.A. in English Literature and has been the Managing Editor of Fame10 for more than 6 years. Despite having a love for the works of Thomas Hardy, Leo Tolstoy and Lord Byron, she also has an intense fascination with pop culture. When she isn’t writing for Fame10, she’s planning her next big adventure in Southeast Asia.