Nicole Richie, Joel Madden, Harlow (and Lionel!) in Harper’s Bazaar
In a extensive interview and photo session shot at Lionel Richie’s palatial home, Nicole Richie chatted with Harper’s Bazaar for their June issue, discussing everything from motherhood, the start of her charity, whispers that she was attending events too soon, marriage, her and Joel Madden’s relationship, their decision to do a People introductory photoshoot, her changing body, what she would think if Harlow got a tattoo (Joel is covered, Nicole has nine herself!) and more.
Click below for the interview highlights; also be sure to check out all the photoshoot images (including Harlow Winter Kate, 4 months next week, with grandpa Lionel!) and a behind-the-scenes video with Nicole.
How she would describe her experience with motherhood thus far:
Hmm, I would say how fun it is. Everybody talks about how difficultit is in the first three months, but I absolutely love it. Everything Ido is for her. My whole life revolves around her and I absolutely loveit.
I was so excited from the minute I found out I was pregnant … and it’s been nothing but an amazing ride since.
How Lionel thinks Nicole has changed:
Motherhood has given her all the keys to understanding how her motherand I were trying to raise her. Now it has come full circle.
On her and Joel’s opposite personalities:
Yeah, for being so opposite, we could possibly hate each other. (smiles) [Joelis] very conservative. [He has] a different way of thinking. But at the same time, he’s never tried tochange me. And if anything, we were friends first.
We just have funtogether. When we’re apart, we just get on iChat and don’t even say anything toeach other. (laughs) He likes to get girly sometimes.But he’d kill me if he knew I said that!
On the topic of marriage and more kids:
One day, yeah — not tomorrow, not today. We are committed to ourfamily. I’m 26. I’ve definitely had a very eventful year. So right now,it’s about me enjoying my time with my daughter.
I want five children: twin boys and three girls. I’ve wanted that since I was a little girl.
On her pregnancy style:
It’s not like I blew up overnight. It graduallyhappened, and then I wasn’t pregnant anymore. When my jeans stopped fitting, Iwore the Balenciaga riding pants. I like to be comfortable. Luckily forme, I’m completely comfortable in six-inch heels!
On her post-baby body:
Half my wardrobe is already stretched. Not all myclothes fit the same. I don’t even think it’s a weight thing; I thinkyour body just changes after you have a baby. I don’t care either way,but (gestures to newfound chest) I’m not used to having atank top or bra underneath my clothes.
You always hear that people withblond hair or larger breasts get more attention, but I never reallythought that was real! I like wearing shirts that are a bit see-throughbecause before it didn’t really matter. But now it’s like, ‘Uh-oh, Icould get arrested.’
On Joel as a father:
Joel actually changes more diapers than I do! It’s his time with her.He sings to her … he laughs with her, plays with her. It’s amazing.
On changing perspectives and ideals:
You know, I went through a stage of thinking that once you had a baby,you moved to Brentwood, had a white picket fence, and it changed yourentire life. But I love where I am right now.
Everysingle thing is for Harlow. Joel took me out last week, and he waslike, ‘Why don’t we go out and have a shopping day?’ But I ended uponly going to kid stores. (laughs) I didn’t get to buy shoesor anything.
On the choice to do a introductory photoshoot with Harlow:
The day before it came out, I was nervous, because therewas going to be a picture of my daughter everywhere. But if I didn’t put a picture out, itwould have been 10 times worse. I wanted to stop people trying to getpictures of her. I was just being a protective mom.
On the decision to start the Richie-Madden Children’s Foundation:
I got like 10 cribs and 20 strollers. For one little girl! So we wantedto take the gifts we got and give them to the people who actuallyneeded them. [We met with charity advising firm]Inspired Philanthropy, and they really opened our eyes.
On the paparazzi:
It is scary. I don’t want that around her, I just don’t … it’s definitely the thing that makes me most nervous. [But] I’m the luckiest girl alive right now. I have nothing to complain about.
On complaints that she attended events at a few weeks postpartum:
You know what? (furrows brow) I was gone formaybe three hours. I never go out. I go four or five days withoutleaving my house. But the press just went wild with it. [We have] adate night once a week. [Sometimes we see] a movie if the runningtime’s not too long.
On tattoos:
To be honest, it would completely break my heart if she got a tattoo!
On her close celebrity friends, such as Paris Hilton, Mischa Barton, and Mary-Kate Olsen:
I feel like my group of five to ten friends, they really love [Harlow], likeshe’s theirs … my friends never go outside for smoke breaks anymore,they don’t curse, they are definitely more demure. It’s actually beenreally interesting.
When asked who among her friends she expects to have a child next, Paris was brought up as an option. Nicole responded,
Ha, nooo!! But I don’t think anyone would have bet on me.
Source: EXTRA; Harper’s Bazaar June issue article; photoshoot; behind-the-scenes video
- Posted on May 8, 08 at 12:08AM
- Permalink
- 30 Comments
May 8th, 2008 at 12:20 am
NICOLE I’M AM SOO PROUD OF YOU AND JOEL, YOU HAVE GROWN SO MUCH HAVING THIS BEAUTIFUL BABY,I DON’T KNOW YO AND PROBABLY NEVER WILL MEET YOU BUT YOU ARE SO MUCH BETTER NOW BEING A MOM,I’M JUST VERY PROUD OF YOU, AND YOU ACTUALLY LOOK HEALTHY, CONGRATS TO THE BOTH OF YOU, SHE S VERY LUCKY TO HAVE THE PARENTS SHE HAS, GOOD LUCK, I HAVE 2 GIRLS AND 1 BOY, AND I LOVE BEING A MOM, BUT IT CAN BE STRESSFUL, I BECAME A MOM AT 15, SO, TAKE CARE OF YOU AND THATS PRETTY BABY, AND OF COURSE JOEL LOL
May 8th, 2008 at 12:24 am
I have always liked nicole, and I love that lionel is in the pictures too. Harlow is so cute, I see noth parents in her looks but a bit more of nicole in her.
May 8th, 2008 at 12:34 am
It seems motherhood becomes Nicole.
Her and Joel seem to be extremely good parents – good for them for having a date night out weekly…it’ll keep their relationship strong.
May 8th, 2008 at 1:00 am
As Lionel characterizes the public’s interest in Nicole, “It’s because she is real. She is always brutally honest. What she says is what she means. Everywhere I go, they love Nicole. She would be a hit anywhere. I love her so much, and that’s not speaking as her father, that’s speaking as a fan.”
BEST QUOTE EVER
May 8th, 2008 at 1:02 am
lol until recently I didn’t even know Nicole was adopted…
I can definitely see both parents in her too!
May 8th, 2008 at 1:09 am
Wow, she looks exactly like Joel in the 4th picture
Their baby pictures are basically the same, it’s cute.
May 8th, 2008 at 1:49 am
love the pics. harlow is so cute. she’s a little munchkin. she’s got a great mix of both parents, but i see a bit more of joel in her than nicole.
May 8th, 2008 at 2:06 am
My gosh, Harlow looks sooo much like Joel now! Beautiful pictures.
May 8th, 2008 at 2:44 am
she always seemed really ditzy & superfical before but having harlow seems so have slowed her down & i think thats a good thing & harlow is just adorable!!!!
May 8th, 2008 at 4:43 am
She has changed a lot since her days in Simple Life …now she seems so down to earth and so in love with her baby
Good for her !
May 8th, 2008 at 5:21 am
what great photos! i love them!!
harlow is such a cutie!
May 8th, 2008 at 5:47 am
LMAO, I love her “nooo!!”
May 8th, 2008 at 6:33 am
Thanks for posting! The have become one of my favorite little families…adorable!
May 8th, 2008 at 6:54 am
“I want five children: twin boys and three girls. I’ve wanted that since I was a little girl.”
Three girls and twin boys sounds like Full House, hehe ^_^ She would have been about the right age to watch it growing up. I know that when I was a kid, I wanted a little girl just like Michelle Tanner.
It’s a nice interview. Definitely wouldn’t have picked Joel to be the conservative type but I guess most daddies are protective when it comes to their little girls. Good luck to them, they seem like a sweet family.
May 8th, 2008 at 7:47 am
Cute interview! (Hope she is right about Paris!)
May 8th, 2008 at 7:53 am
I found these photo’s through a link on a Dutch website (I’m from the Netherlands) and I loved the photo’s and the interview! Don’t judge a book by it’s cover!
I also heard on MTV this week that Nicole is the biological niece of Sheila E. Is this true and does Nicole have any contact restored with her biological family? Because personally I would be proud if Sheilab was my niece…
May 8th, 2008 at 8:00 am
I find it funny that she just plans on having twin boys. Not quite that easy.lol And alot of the people that “complain” about the first 3 months are people who don’t have help like her. But I have to agree, it looks like Harlow has mellowed her out for now.
May 8th, 2008 at 8:14 am
Great pictures!
They look good and Harlow looks cute.
May 8th, 2008 at 8:16 am
They are an adorable family !! Harlow is gorgeous !!!
May 8th, 2008 at 8:24 am
It’s funny how now people see her as having changed so much, best mother etc, yet the normal celeb mothers who were normal in the first place never seem to get the attention. I’d rather admire the other celeb mothers than her.
May 8th, 2008 at 8:46 am
Wow, she’s changed so much. And I love her comment about how people say the first three months are so hard, but she loved them. I did too! I was so afraid because of everyone telling me how tough it would be… I LOVED every minute of it. Even at the time I was going through it, not just looking back on it. It is what you make it to be. And I chose to love it, knowing I could never get that time back. I can’t wait to do it again next month!
May 8th, 2008 at 9:41 am
I love Nicole R. even when she was crazy I loved her because she was so honest and funny, but now I love her more!! Her daughter is the most beatiful thing!!
I love the first 3 months also…everything…even not sleeping!! You just have to think those are the first days of your childs life and it so exciting and new!!
Looks like Lionel is in love with his daughter and grandaughter!!
I love that she started her own charity, most famous/rich people that get tons of gifts like 10 cribs and 15 diapers bag should do it!! I didn’t get nearly as much gifts as her…but what I got extra I sure gave it away to people that needed it. Like my neighbor, whos husband died and left her pregnant and with 2 toddlers
Ps. CBB should try to do an interview with Nicole I would love it!!!
May 8th, 2008 at 10:30 am
I’m not saying she’s a bad mother, but considering how there are pictures of her attending functions every other day, claiming to go four to five days without leaving her house is most likely an exaggeration on her part
May 8th, 2008 at 11:03 am
Sara, in the interview before this one Nicole stated ephatically that she did not have any “help” in the form of nannies, just their moms and Joel’s brother Benji who look after Harlow when they want to go out. I could be wrong, but thought you were implying that they have a nanny, when I don’t think they do.
May 8th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
Yeah, recently during one of his shows, Joel said they don’t have a nanny because uncle Benji is always there when they need him.
May 8th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
The pictures are great! Harlow is so beautiful and such a perfect combo of Joel and Nicole. I am really loving Nicole. I agree, motherhood has balanced her out. I love what she said about shopping, it’s so true! I barely ever bought things for myself when my daughter was a baby!
May 8th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
The pictures remind me of the introduction photoshoot that JLO had with People magazine.
May 8th, 2008 at 5:40 pm
It’s nice that Nicole has grown up now that she is a mother. They seem like a cute family.
May 9th, 2008 at 9:35 pm
I was thinking the same thing RitzGirl. Double-standard I think. I didn’t have a problem with J.Lo’s photo shoot. I know the difference between a professional photo shoot and candid family photos and I don’t buy People or Harpers Bazaar to see candid family photos of celebrities looking like death warmed over.
I love Lionel and he looks like such a proud G-Pa. One of the finest songwriters in the last 35 years.
May 9th, 2008 at 10:39 pm
I loved that picture of Nicole holding Harlow while Joel is playing the guitar for them.