A Fresh Start - ‘Being A Mum Comes First'

From socialite to fashion designer to eco-rapper – would the real nicole richie please stand up?

- Alan Tanner

Nicole Richie is no stranger to creating entertaining personas. The adopted daughter of superstar Lionel Richie found fame in 2003’s The Simple Life, in which she played a wealthy socialite swapping her Hollywood bubble for small-town America. Along with her best pal Paris Hilton, she had viewers gobsmacked as the ditsy pair tried different careers from waitressing to farming.

But a lot has happened since then. After a brief blip when her partying ways led to an 82-minute spell in jail for driving under the influence, she made a fresh start.

Becoming a mum to daughter Harlow, now 12, and son Sparrow, now 10, with Good Charlotte rocker Joel Madden, had a calming affect on Nicole, who was determined to be “the best parent I can be”.

She married Joel in 2010 and focused on building her award-winning fashion range House of Harlow. Nicole also introduced her pal Cameron Diaz to Joel’s twin brother Benji, and they now have a baby girl, Raddix.

Nicole’s latest incarnation couldn’t be further from The Simple Life. Nikki Fre$h is a green-fingered eco-warrior and rap artist, hellbent on saving the planet as she creates her “music with a message”. She’s also the focus of a new comedy mockumentary series for mobile streaming service Quibi.

There’s an album too, all about “growing vegetables, loving crystals and being at one with the universe”. She recorded it with Joel, 41, an experience she describes as “fun, exciting, intimidating and frustrating”, and tracks include Bee’s Tea about saving bees. “I want people sweating until six in the morning, dancing so hard and listening to my songs,” says the tongue-in-cheek star.