Everything We Know About Nicole Richie's Adoption Story

Reality star and actor Nicole Richie always finds herself in the middle of the nepo baby discourse due to her being the daughter of music icon Lionel Richie. But despite bearing the Richie name, not many know that she is adopted. Nicole didn't officially become a Richie until the age of nine.

This fact often flies under the radar for fans, likely because Lionel has always been a doting father to Nicole, never shying away from telling the world that he is her biggest fan. He made his affection evident in his hit song "Ballerina Girl," which he composed for her during the time she took ballet classes as a child. The singer also offered Nicole his unwavering support through the challenging times in her life, particularly when she struggled with drug addiction in her early 20s. He and his ex-wife, Brenda, never left her side, even accompanying her to rehab. "We checked in with her because I wanted her to understand that this is not her problem alone ... We were going to try to recover as a family," he told NBC News.

Nicole herself gushed about Lionel being the perfect father, even if he sometimes failed to give himself enough credit for it. "My dad has said before that he doesn't think he was a good dad. But I've never felt like that. He's being too harsh on himself," she shared with The Telegraph. "Looking back, I think I had a wonderful childhood." But unbeknownst to fans, Lionel wasn't actually her dad from the get-go.

Lionel and Nicole Richie first crossed paths at a Prince concert in the 1980s. Speaking with HuffPost, the "All Night Long" crooner shared that he first saw Nicole on stage with the "Purple Rain" singer fiddling with the tambourine. While they got to interact briefly after the show, he "never thought about it again." He later discovered that she was the daughter of his friends, musician Peter Escovedo and assistant Karen Moss. He then got wind of the fact that the two were having problems, so he and his ex-wife, Brenda, offered to look after Nicole. "I think we decided that ... What we'll do to kind of give you some stability was we'll be like legal guardians, but nothing more," he said.

Initially, the Richies' role was akin to long-term babysitters, hosting Nicole for brief stays. "Whenever I wanted to go someplace, they would put me on an airplane that day," Nicole shared with Vanity Fair. The arrangement led to the family enrolling her in a private school in Los Angeles, where she met who would be her BFF, Paris Hilton.

The formal adoption of Nicole was completed when she was nine. To this day, Lionel looks back at their decision with fondness, telling People that she was a blessing in his life. "Nicole was actually a godsend. She was a little girl who needed a shot," he said. "She was used to people coming and going. She looked at me and I'd say, 'I'm not going anywhere.'"

While Nicole Richie is eternally grateful that Lionel Richie made her part of the family, she realized that she wanted to fix her relationship with her actual parents when she became a parent herself. "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," she dished to Access Hollywood (via UPI), adding that it wasn't at all an impulse decision. Her goal was to "heal any wounds before I become a mother myself."

The details of Nicole's reconnection with her biological parents remain private, but what's obvious is that her bond with her adoptive dad has only grown stronger. Lionel now revels in his role as a doting grandfather to Nicole's two kids with husband Joel Madden, Harlow and Sparrow. "I'll say something and she goes, 'Dad, we don't use those kind of words around the kids.' And I go, 'Excuse me?'" Lionel told People. "She turned into a fantastic young lady."