Nicole Richie Watch

… and belated Happy Fathers Day to come with that.

Well it seems like I am having quite a lot of belated greetings here in Nicole Richie Watch. My apologies for having been uber busy these days and probably the next days to come. Anyway, better late than never is one of my principles in life, so here I am catching up with all the delayed greetings.

And yes, as the title said, I am sending my delayed birthday greeting to Nicole’s handsome and loving father, Lionel Richie.

Although not Nicole Richie’s biological father, Lionel in all his 60 years – at least most of it – have always been there for our petite fashionista in all her lowest and highest. I guess this is no wonder why despite him admitting not being the perfect father for our Nicole, the latter has been too adamant to defend him and has in fact acknowledged the singer for being a good father to her.

Now that Nicole has a family already, Lionel was just too cool to add another role to play; being a grandfather. He once said in an interview, “First of all, your baby is going to have a baby. Second, what is this grandpa thing? But then once Harlow showed up, you could call me grandpa so many times that I wouldn’t care. You fall in love with The Mouse — I call her (Harlow) The Mouse.”

Well Nicole just seems too lucky to have Lionel as a father. Check out the photo above that Nicole posted on her official website. A daddy’s girl now and then… what a priceless moment…

Well this wouldn’t be the first time I’m going to say this, but am saying it once again; kids always do bring good things in the family.

Take for example how Harlow Madden – daughter of Nicole Richie and Good Charlotte rocker, Joel Madden – has brought pleasant things to her own family. As shared by her grandfather, Lionel during an interview with Ebony magazine, the 1-year-old tot who he fondly calls as “The Mouse” served as a ‘healer’ in the family healing the long-running rift between the balladeer and his ex-wife Brenda.

He told the magazine: “First of all, your baby is going to have a baby. Second, what is this grandpa thing? But then once Harlow showed up, you could call me grandpa so many times that I wouldn’t care. You fall in love with The Mouse — I call her (Harlow) The Mouse.”

He added, “It brings joy to the entire family. All of a sudden Brenda, Nicole’s mom, and I are on the phone with the rest of the family. Because when The Mouse shows up, everybody drops whatever. (That) kind of erases all of the baggage.”

Obviously, Lionel has gotten over his fear of losing his ‘sex appeal’ with him being a grandfather. And with that adorable and charming little girl, whose heart just wouldn’t melt?

With Harlow alone the family already seems to be getting well. I wonder what kind of change will Nicole’s second baby bring to their clan? If Harlow healed the rift between Lionel and his ex-wife, do you think the second baby would bring them back together? Hmmm… who knows…

Babies always do bring families closer together. In Nicole Richie’s case, it’s the coming of her second baby that’s bringing her and her father, Lionel in a joint interview after six years.

Appearing on “Larry King Live” today, the popular father and daughter will be on the show to talk about their life together, especially now that the former reality TV star and her boyfriend, Joel Madden are expecting their second baby.

In his recent interview, Lionel was obviously proud to what his daughter has become after giving birth to Harlow Winter Kate last year. Talking about the straight path Nicole is having now, he said: “Where most people would get into a dangerous situation — drugs, alcohol, the wrong type of people, the wrong area of town — she can check it out and exit graciously. How many people exit through drug abuse? You wouldn’t know that this is the same person that five years ago had a reality show. There’s still that woman there who’s a spoofer of life, but she’s changed in her chemistry.”

Knowing what Nicole Richie’s has been in the past – weight issues, drugs, and controversies here and there – I sure can see why Lionel is this proud of his daughter. If we are glad to seining Nicole now straightening out her life, what more to a father who saw her at her lowest, right?!

This interview of the two is something we all would look forward to. Hopefully I can get a video of their interview that I can post here. So stay tuned.

Well it looks like couples Nicole Richie and Joel Madden have more reasons for catching the season 8 finale of American Idol live yesterday. Aside from the obvious fact that the two are huge Idol fans, Nicole’s dad, Lionel Richie had also made an appearance at the show.

That’s right folks! Completing the stellar performances of last night’s event, Lionel Richie did a soulful duet of medley with AI finalist, Danny Gokey who opened the number with his rendition of Lionel’s “Hello”.

Other A-listers in the music industry who performed at the event were Queen Latifah, Keith Urban, Fergie, Cyndi Lauper, KISS, Carlos Santana, and Rod Stewart among others.

All in all, it was quite a night not just for American Idols fans but for the American music industry as well.

Meanwhile, enjoy the video of Lionel at last night’s event above.

Now this is just cute. Lionel Richie, Nicole’s adoptive father and pop star, recently admitted that he actually flew into a panic as he got the news that his daughter was pregnant (probably with Harlow) as he believed it would spell an end to his sex appeal.

Lionel recently told British tabloid the Daily Record, “I went through a panic - that’s the end of my career.” He, however continued that despite all, he is enjoying life as a grandfather, albeit the distance, saying, “I’m having more fun now with the responsibility of being a grandpa - that is, playing with the baby and handing her back.”

Awww… That said, I guess our dear Nicole now is really heading in to a better path, at Lionel’s joy. Really cute, right?!

They may not be always together, but Lionel Richie is confident now there is no need for him to worry about his daughter, Nicole.

Proud of who Nicole has become now, the Dancing on the Ceiling singer is just glad that the first has overcome her addiction to cocaine and heroin and is now doing great as mother to Harlow.

“I watched guys die through drugs. I saw the novelty of it but I didn’t like the idea of having five hit records, doing some coke, doing heroin then dying. There was only one way you ever did drugs and got through it and that was rehab,” said Lionel.

But the proud father continued saying, “Even when my daughter Nicole came home and said, ‘Dad, I messed up’, because I’d seen it all, I could give her advice and that’s why she came through it and is so over it. Look at her now, the perfect mother.”

What more can I say? From a notorious Hollywood personality, we now see Nicole taking care of Harlow, getting ready for her and Joel’s second baby, doing charity and stuff. Change sure is possible.

It has already been a year since Nicole Richie became a mom to her daughter with Joel Madden, Harlow Winter Kate. And since then, people have all been saying that Nicole’s getting and looking better and better now compared to the kind of life she had before her baby.

But while most people are glad to see the transformation that Nicole has now, one person is more than delighted by the changes in the life of the petite fashionista. – Her adoptive father, Lionel Richie.

In one of his recent interviews, the “Ordinary Girl” hitmaker shares that although he was extremely worried when Nicole was arrested for driving under the influence of marijuana and painkiller Vicodin in 2006, he was more than content to see his daughter recover from it.

“I was worried about her. I mean, her life story reads like a train wreck, but she has amazing powers of recovery. She went through her drug period, then came back to centre,” says Lionel. Then adds, “She went through a car accident, then came back to center. She went through arrest, back to centre. Her ability to get through it and recover is amazing.”

The 59-year-old singer even shared that because of his hectic schedule, he could not be the best father for Nicole.

“Because of the nature of my business and the fact that I travel so much, when I’m asked, ‘Can you make it to the dinner party?’ I don’t know. ‘Can you make it to the family reunion?’ Well let’s go back and look at my track record. For 20 years, the answer was: I never made one,” says Lionel.

Well at least Lionel now sees that his daughter is doing better with her life now.