Surviving Nicole Richie

Lionel Richie may not have gone unnoticed throughout his life but it's safe to say his adopted daughter, Nicole, has certainly managed to steal the limelight in her 26 years.

Speaking openly and warmly about his eldest daughter he said: "When I go on stage sometimes I say ‘We are all here to celebrate the survival of Lionel Richie and his music for the past 30 years'. I then say "But I'm not here to celebrate 30 years in the music business I'm here to celebrate 26 years of surviving Nicole Richie!"

A new mother, it would appear that after scandalous and controversial news reports for a number of years, Nicole has finally turned the corner.

Godfathers

Richie said: "Nicole has been very lucky - she has uncle Prince, uncle Kenny Rogers, uncle Michael Jackson and Uncle Sidney Poitier, who are all her godfathers.

"I think that's one of the things that got her through some of the madness. Sidney is very grounded - he's my godfather too so even if I want to get my brains back together again from someone in the business then he's the guy I call.

"But no matter what crisis you bring to these guys - they all start laughing. I'm like… this is disastrous, the worst day of my life, and they start laughing."

Understanding and caring, it is clear Richie only has the interest of his three children, Nicole, 26, Miles 13 and Sophia, 9, at heart.

"My kids being born were my most memorable moment because that's something you'll never forget in life.

"But the days of the Commodores were wonderful - you have to understand how amazing that was because a lot of us think of it as a band - we were actually a group of brothers, that could travel the entire world and what's great about a band is that it doesn't matter whether you're all right or all wrong - you do it together.

"So you can't mess it up - well you can mess it up and we did (laughs). But you mess it up together. We didn't have tabloids back then so you could make a mistake and not read about it the next day.

"I feel for Nicole because after a tabloid story she would say to me "I'm sorry, dad", and I'd say "Nic, stop apologising. The only difference between your growing up and my growing up and our experiences is that I could keep it a secret from my parents".

"My whole situation is like - of course you're 21 years old, of course, you're going to mess it up but you'll recover by morning - but you've got to be able to experiment a little bit otherwise its going to be boring - I mean I probably didn't say to Nicole at the time - because she managed to take it to another place (rolls eyes and laughs) - but you have to kind of get out and find out who you are - and how the little machine works you know - and life is that little machine you have to figure out.

"But thank God she turned the corner the right way. And of course now to hear her as a mother, it has changed her.

"She's like ‘Oh my God, dad wash your hands, dad turn out the light'. This is not the same girl who came into the house with 15 of her closest friends (she just met!) and you know... "Nic, it's three in the morning. What's the problem?"

"Joel Madden, Nicole's boyfriend and father of her child is a sweetheart. It's an interesting combination because as a father you can never visualise the guy who is going to come and take your daughter. Your father and mother always have an idea of Prince Charming coming - then all of a sudden a rapper walks in and you go, ‘What? What are you doing?'," he laughs.

"But what you find out is that they're perfect for each other. I don't know how it works but he has control of the situation and vice versa - they're like an old married couple - it's good and I like him a lot.

"They want to put her back on television. I'm hoping for her to have her own show in about six months. Plus, she's now discovered the clothing line, the baby clothing line, the perfume, the jewellery - its all coming, so little miss entrepreneur is on her way now. But it's great because she can relate to all of that. Every time she picks up a bag, that bag sells like a thousand so she said ‘Ok, I'm going to do my own bags now'.

"I told Nicole I will gladly let her do the perfume line Endless Love and she'll be the face of Hello. Me standing next to Hello - I don't think so - that's a little bit too corny.

"To me the most underrated profession in life is a mother. My ex-wife left me with the kids for one week and I thought I was going to die. It would be great if they all did the same thing - but they don't. They all go in different directions. I wouldn't trade them for the world though.

Word of advice

And Richie's final word of advice to all the ladies out there who are husband-hunting. "When you choose a husband don't choose the stud, choose a great dad, because the jock leaves.

"That for me is the hardest thing I've ever had to do in my life. Fatherhood is hard because you can't rehearse it.

"My son has just figured it out. He came to me about five months ago and you could tell he'd been talking to his boys - and he said, ‘So dad, let me get this straight, when you die everything you own is mine right?'

"I knew it was all over. I've talked to him about hard work and getting your grades and a job, his boys are saying get a job? Are you out of your mind? You've made it!!

"It was then I announced my final plan, I said: "I'm going to time it right, I'm going to take my last breath and by then I'll be broke. Let's just say his face changed!"