Nicole Richie recently opened up about a white lie she told on her first date with her now-husband, Good Charlotte frontman Joel Madden.
Reflecting on their early days, the Simple Life star admitted that when Joel invited her over to watch The Wire, she claimed it was her favorite show—even though she had never seen a single episode.
Speaking on the Dec. 11 episode of Call Her Daddy, Nicole shared, “I go, ‘The Wire is my favorite show.’ Obviously, The Wire is an amazing show… but he just threw me into season three.
There’s no music, and I, for a very long time, pretended like I watched and loved The Wire.” She eventually came clean “a few years later,” after they had already started a family.
Nicole, 43, and Joel, 45, who now share two teenage children—daughter Harlow, 16, and son Sparrow, 15—have since rewatched the iconic HBO series from the beginning.
Recalling how they first connected, Nicole revealed that they were set up by a mutual friend with no serious expectations.
“She was like, ‘You’re single and he’s single, so this is probably not going to be serious, but you guys should hang out.’ We did.”
Nicole was instantly charmed by Joel’s quiet demeanor. “Joel is very shy,” she said.
“The first night I met him, he actually didn’t speak to me, and I was like, ‘This is my husband.’”
Their connection quickly became serious, defying their friend’s casual setup intentions.
Though the couple keeps their family life private, Nicole has been open about how her wild past influences her parenting style.
In a recent interview with Glamour, she reflected on raising teens, saying, “I just so clearly remember what it’s like to be a teenager. It feels like it happened yesterday for me.”
Wanting to maintain honesty, she shared, “They know everything I did. I knew before I had them that I was going to have to be transparent about who I was. And I’ve actually found freedom in that. I didn’t want my kids having some big discovery about me.”
Nicole and Joel’s enduring love story proves that even a little first-date fib can lead to a lasting, genuine connection.
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