Lionel Richie says his sweetest lesson in love came from his daughter Nicole Richie.
The Grammy winner, 76, opened up about fatherhood during an appearance on Today with Jenna & Friends on Friday, sharing that Nicole, now 43, changed his life from the moment she entered it.
“If I’ve ever met anyone in my life, Nicole was the one who actually taught me how to fall in love,” Richie said. “Forget biological, I don’t know the difference.”
Lionel and his then-wife Brenda Harvey took Nicole in when she was 3, later adopting her at age 9. Nicole is the biological daughter of Richie’s drummer Peter Escovedo (brother of musician Sheila E.) and Karen Moss.
Lionel recalled being smitten right away. “This little girl captivated me to the point where I told her, ‘I’m never going anywhere ever again,’” he said. “And of course she had this smile and this laugh.”
He also used a quirky metaphor to describe their bond. “The two of us together are a great ham sandwich.”
Richie, who is promoting his new memoir Truly, also acknowledged the challenges of raising Nicole under public scrutiny.
“You go to a recital with Nicole. Now there’s enough pressure on her just to sit up there and do a kid’s recital,” he explained. “And then someone announces, ‘We have Lionel Richie in the audience tonight!’ Oh, come on! Give the kid a break.”
Richie credits Nicole’s adoption as one of the best decisions of his life. “Nicole was actually a godsend,” he told People Magazine in 2022. “She was used to people coming and going. She looked at me and I’d say, ‘I’m not going anywhere.’”
Richie went on to welcome two more children, Miles, 31, and Sofia, 27, with his second wife, Diane Alexander, before the couple split in 2004.
