Nicole was born in Berkeley, California. Her biological father is widely rumored to be musician Pete Escovedo, brother of 1980s pop percussionist Sheila E. and son of famed Latin percussionist Pete Escovedo, but this was directly denied by Nicole in the November 2005 issue of Jane magazine. According to an April 2006 Tatler magazine interview with Nicole, her biological father was a drummer who worked with Lionel Richie; Her biological mother was a backstage assistant for Lionel. When Nicole was three, Lionel and his wife Brenda Harvey-Richie informally adopted her and raised her as their daughter. When she was nine, they went through the legal formalities of the adoption; She still speaks with her biological mother.

Nicole has studied the cello, violin, piano, and some figure skating, and she has plans to pursue a music career. She also attended the University of Arizona for two years after graduating from high school. She stated, "I went to the University of Arizona. I stopped because I went there for two years and I felt like I experienced college or whatever. I'm over it.[1] I like Hollywood better." She made her musical debut in February 2005 with a live appearance on ABC's The View playing the piano. Her godfather is Michael Jackson.

Nicole and Paris Hilton starred in the 2003 reality series The Simple Life, in which they lived for a month with a family in the rural community of Altus, Arkansas. Later seasons of the show had Richie and Hilton in a road-trip across the United States, and an East Coast trek on a Greyhound bus while performing various internships. She has also made appearances in films and Fox's Madtv. Her first major acting role was a supporting role as cheerleader Kelly Stepford in 2005 comedy Kids In America.

Richie recently wrote a semi-autobiographical novel, The Truth About Diamonds. The novel is loosely based on her life, but is mostly fictional. It chronicles Chloe Parker, the adopted daughter of a singer who makes her way through all of the hottest nightclubs and parties in Hollywood and battles a drug addiction. It was rumored that a character in the book, Simone Westlake, was based on Hilton; Simone does a few things similarly to her, such as "accidentally on purpose" losing her cellular telephone and circulating the phone numbers of celebrities to the general public.

While Hilton has the catchphrase "That's Hot", Nicole has one of her own in the same vein: "Loves It."

Another current project of Richie's is a music album, with no release date specified as of yet. The seven songs reported to be done so far are a mixture of rock, soul and dance. One track, called "Dandelion", was leaked early; It is a melodic pop-track.

She was engaged to club DJ Adam Goldstein also known as D.J. AM. Instead of using a diamond ring, Goldstein proposed with a sapphire ring, her birthstone. They announced their engagement in February 2005 after dating since 2003 and were set to marry in early 2006. On December 7th, 2005, she and Adam broke off their 9 month engagement.

In the media spotlight
In February of 2003, Richie was arrested in Malibu, California, and charged with possession of heroin. She has since been been a patient in a drug-rehabilitation hospital.

In December 2003, she publicly spoke out in defense of her godfather Michael Jackson following his accusations of child molestation.

Following the 2003 Billboard Music Awards, the FCC received 80,000 complaints after Richie said "fucking" and "shit" during the show's broadcast (the network didn't edit the words). This was the FCC complaint record, until it was broken following Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake's appearance at Super Bowl XXXVIII. The FCC ruled that the words were indecent, but did not fine FOX.

On 20 April 2005, amid media reports that their friendship was in trouble, Paris Hilton released a statement saying "It's no big secret that Nicole and I are no longer friends," and "Nicole knows what she did, and that's all I'm ever going to say about it." A circulating rumor was the story that Nicole had shown Paris's sex tape at a party (Richie has denied this[2]). There were also rumors of Hilton's being jealous of Nicole's rising stardom. Nichie, however, said "There's nothing that really happened, we've just grown apart." In a Jane magazine interview, she also said "We really haven't been friends in probably about two years." Richie is still friends with Paris's sister Nicky, who was to serve as a bridesmaid at Nicole's wedding, until it was called off in December, 2005.

In 2005, Richie appeared in and co-hosted at the 19th Annual Soul Train Music Awards.

Initially, because of the end of Nicole's friendship with Hilton, Kimberly Stewart and Manhattan socialite Bethany Carkhuff were tapped to be Nicole's replacement in The Simple Life 4. Richie and fiance Goldstein were said to be considering a Jessica Simpson-type reality show of their own. Nicole has since said that she would never agree to doing a reality show about her personal life and relationships. In late 2005, FOX dropped The Simple Life saying they didn't see a place for it in their schedule.[3] A month later, cable network E! picked up the fourth season with both Hilton and Richie as participants, though both would do tasks separately and not be seen together on screen.[4]

In early 2005, Richie received tabloid speculation of having an eating disorder. Richie, however, said that "I've always been really skinny. I just went through a heavier stage after rehab and during Simple Life 1. Now I have a trainer and the weight has gradually come off."

On December 1st, 2005, Richie signed a deal with 20th Century Fox Television that could land her in a TV sitcom. Richie's deal could either put her into an existing show or have a new show built around her. She is rumoured to be joining the cast of The OC in it's fourth season.

Richie is a former model for Bongo Jeans, and is the current face of Jimmy Choo. She was also signed to promote Green M&M's in Australia. However the candy company behind M&M's was worried that Richie's slender appearance was not right for the promotion of candy, and instead it signed actress Pamela Anderson. Richie, however rose above the disappointment, and soon after landed herself a position promoting Diet Dr Pepper, and she has been seen promoting the soft drink in several locations.

Selected TV appearances
The Simple Life (2003) (reality series regular) ... Herself
The Simple Life 2: Road Trip (2004) (reality series regular) ... Herself
The Simple Life 3: Interns (2005) (reality series regular) ... Herself
The Simple Life 4 (2006) (reality series regular) ... Herself
Larry King Live (2005) (guest) ... Herself
Punk'd (2005) ... Herself
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (2005) (guest) ... Herself
Mad TV (2005) (guest) ... Herself
The Oprah Winfrey Show (2004) (guest with father) ... Herself
Six Feet Under (2004) (guest) ... Herself
American Dreams (2004) (guest) ... Brenda Reid
Viko and Nicole's Honeymoon (2004) on dvd and video) (star) ... Herself