Nicole Richie: “My parents were really really strict”
A celebrity baby herself, Nicole Richie, 26, is reflecting back on her own childhood for ideas on how she plans to raise her 5-month-old daughter Harlow Winter Kate differently. Nicole, who says her parents — singer Lionel Richie and ex-wife Brenda — were "really really strict," explained that she hopes to be more easy-going with Harlow. However, she may be just like them, as the reality star admits, "you never know until it happens to you!"
Although Nicole recalls a stern upbringing, she can’t deny the fact that she was blessed with "amazing parents" and has "great people to turn to if I ever need advice." Spending "three or four times a week" with her mom and "once a week" with her dad leaves Nicole and her boyfriend, Good Charlotte’s Joel Madden, with no shortage of advice or parenting tips. In fact, each one has someone to look to in that department. Says Nicole,
[My dad] comes from a father standpoint. He gives Joel a lot of advice. I get advice from my mom.
Source: Extra; photo by NME.
Do you think you’re raising your kids the same way you were raised? Or have you taken a completely different approach?
- Posted on Jun 26, 08 at 3:30PM
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- 9 Comments
June 26th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
My parents were really strick about what I was allowed to watch and be exposed to as a child. No R rated movies, video games, or anything violent. I was also expected to tell my parents where I was 24/7. As long as I didnt lie they trusted me. They kept pretty got tabs on me until I was 19.
On the other hand my husbands parents didnt pay much attention to him. He was never restricted on what he was exposed to and his parents had no idea what he was doing for the age of 12 on.. Pretty much explains him being a drug addict and dropped out of school after 9th grade.
I firmly believe that there are things you learn from your parents teachings and things that you decide on your own, but they all go back to how you were raised yourself.
June 26th, 2008 at 7:15 pm
I’ve never said it before but I just love name Harlow! I’m so jealous of the fact that in English are so many great names not like in my native language
June 26th, 2008 at 8:14 pm
I think your and Nicole’s story show that it can go both ways. Nicole says she was raised very strict like you but she still ended up a drug addict.
My children will be raised similar to how I was raised; not too strict but not too free either. I would like to encourage them more in their talents or desires.
June 26th, 2008 at 10:23 pm
Gee…this admission from Nicole is making me re-think my desire to be REALLY strict!
June 26th, 2008 at 11:04 pm
I always said I never wanted to raise my kids the way I was raised. Nothing wrong with the way I was raised. I love my parents and still get along with them very well. I also think that I turned out pretty well. But there were things they did and rules they had that I always said I wouldn’t impose on my children. Now, I am finding myself a carbon copy of my parents. Everything I said I wouldn’t do, I am. Although I think that I am even more protective of my kids.
Funny how that works out.
June 27th, 2008 at 5:29 am
If Nicole became a Heroin user and abused alcohol after being raised by “very, very strict” parents, then I hate to see how Harlow will turn out with “easy-going” Nicole as a mother! I don’t think Nicole’s parents are completely to blame for her wild ways, so hopefully grandma will have some influence on Harlow’s upbringing!
June 27th, 2008 at 9:02 am
I would love Nicole to clarify what ‘very very strict’ means. I think we all have different meanings and I would think even more so for the young hollywood crowd.
June 28th, 2008 at 1:30 am
Nicole’s talked about her parents being very strict in an issue of UK Marie Claire Magazine.
The gist is that they never let her go anywhere without a “guardian” i guess more like a bodyguard. so whether its a sleepover with friends or school trips, she always had to have a guardian with her.
So whenever she could sneek out of the house, she would over indulge in her freedom and go really crazy. Also, Nicole parents were not really hands on. she was raised by nannies. She spoke about that on GMA and Oprah. Brenda was with Lionel touring most of her childhood and in her teens when they divorced. she was shuffling between houses and always had to have a guardian.
Anyways, i think Nicole drug issues have more to do with her parents divorcing, and her dad starting a new family…her being adopted and her parents not really being around
July 5th, 2008 at 11:39 am
I think my parents did a good job raising me, and I hope I could do the same thing for my kids.