Highlights
- Nicole Richie had a tough start in life, being adopted by Lionel Richie when she was nine years old, but she has thrived since then.
- Her relationship with her biological mother Karen Moss is unclear, but Nicole expressed a desire to mend any past issues with her parents when she became pregnant.
- Nicole has a close bond with her adoptive mother Brenda Harvey and expressed her love for her in a Mother's Day Instagram post, even apologizing for shaving off her eyebrows when she was 13.
In the 2000s, Nicole Richie was a stylish young celebrity who seemed to have it all. But she struggled behind the scenes. While she was photographed partying with Lindsay Lohan and they seemed to be having the time of their lives, Richie lost weight and was unhealthy.
Ever since then, the designer has been doing better. She and her husband Joel Maddon have two children and she loves running her company House of Harlow. But while Nicole Richie has been thriving for a while now, she had a tough start in life. She was adopted, and that couldn't have been a simple transition. Nicole has always appeared to be close to her adoptive father Lionel Richie, but that might not be the case with her biological mother Karen Moss...
When Was Nicole Richie Adopted?
Nicole Richie's biological parents are Karen Moss and Peter Escovedo. According to several sources, including The Daily Mail, Peter Escovedo Escovedo was one of Lionel's band members.
How did Lionel Richie end up adopting Nicole Richie? He explained the entire situation to Piers Morgan in 2015. According to PopSugar, Lionel Richie made the adoption official when Nicole was nine years old. But at the time of the concert, she was super young.
As Lionel explained to Piers Morgan, "I went to a Prince concert and there on the stage in the middle of the concert was this four-year-old kid playing the tambourine. So I went backstage and I knew the mother and I knew the father [Karen Moss and Peter Michael Escovedo] and, of course, they were having difficulties with their relationship."
Lionel continued, "I said, 'While you are having the difficulty, the kid is sitting out here in limbo so I'll tell you what I'll do, just put the kid in my house until the tour is over with and then we will sort this out later'."
In 2022, Lionel talked to People about the process of adopting Nicole. He described a really positive experience and said, "Nicole was actually a godsend. She was a little girl who needed a shot. She was used to people coming and going. She looked at me and I'd say, 'I'm not going anywhere.'"
At the time, Lionel Richie was married to Brenda Harvey, his first wife. They got divorced in 1993 and in 1995, Lionel married his second wife, Diane Alexander. Lionel and his second wife got divorced in 2004. But even though Lionel and Brenda Harvey split up, Nicole became part of Lionel's family unit alongside his daughter Sofia Richie and son Miles Brockman Richie.
What Is Nicole Richie's Relationship With Her Biological Mom Karen Moss Like?
It doesn't sound like Nicole Richie and her biological mom Karen Moss saw each other during her childhood. They might not have gotten together again until Nicole's adulthood.
In 2007, Nicole Richie talked about Karen Moss and said that when she was pregnant, she changed her mind about her mom and dad.
According to CBS News, Nicole appeared on Access Hollywood. She said that the media has said that she didn't have any kind of relationship with Moss, but that wasn't the case.
Nicole explained, "It wasn't an overnight decision, but actually, yes. When I found out that I was pregnant, there was just something inside of me that felt a responsibility to mend any issues that I've had with my parents in the past, because listen, I have put them through a lot. Of course, you just want to heal any wounds before I become a mother myself."
Nicole's statement seems to suggest that she had some trouble with her biological parents in the past. She might not have spoken to them for many years. But when she was expecting her first child Harlow, she knew that it was time to talk to them again.
In several interviews, Lionel Richie opened up about the money problems that Karen Moss and Peter Escovedo had at the time when Lionel took Nicole in. Since they were having a hard time, they might not have been in any position to see Nicole for a long time. It's unclear if Lionel and Nicole's biological parents had any conversations about how often they would see each other.
Nicole and Lionel have also talked about Nicole's teenage and young adult years, which were a little intense. In 2007, she got a DUI and People reported that while she was supposed to spend four days in jail, "overcrowding" meant that she was there for 82 minutes. In 2010, CBS reported that Nicole had to go to a program for 18 months that focused on alcohol.
While Nicole Richie shared that she wanted to talk to Karen Moss when she was pregnant in 2007, she doesn't seem to have spoken about her biological mother since.
Maybe Nicole and Karen Moss do have a friendly relationship and see each other from time to time, but neither one wants to talk to the media about it. Since Moss has a lower profile than Nicole does, Nicole might not feel that she should say much about their family life. There's also the chance that both Nicole and her biological mom find it too painful to keep in touch. Either way, it sounds like Nicole wanted to get some closure from her biological mom and dad when she was pregnant with her daughter. Fans can only speculate about this situation since Nicole Richie and Karen Moss aren't talking about it.
Although Nicole's relationship with her biological mom isn't clear, she has shared her love for her adoptive mother, Brenda Harvey.
According to The Daily Mail, Nicole Richie posted about Brenda Harvey in May 2023 for Mother's Day. She showed her Instagram followers some pictures of her as a young child with Harvey.
Nicole wrote, "No one could ever walk through your house and question your love for me."
She continued, "And finally, I would like to apologize to you, for shaving off my eyebrows, and lying to you about it when I was 13. I was developing a serious unibrow and desperately needed a glow up, and you were standing in my way."