Child abuse, heroin battles & cheating hell – the dark side of Paris Hilton & Nicole Richie’s The Simple Life success
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IT'S been 21 years since socialites Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie made their TV debut on The Simple Life. Fast forward two decades, and the pair have reunited for a new three part series called Paris & Nicole: The Encore. But while the pals, both now married with two children each, are delighted to get back to their reality TV roots, their path to stardom has been anything but smooth sailing.
![[Nicole Richie and Paris Hilton have been open about their various struggles over the years]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/14737e85-1a77-4143-af2b-ee8d51aec2c6.jpg?strip=all&w=830)
Both raised in immense wealth - Paris’ great grandfather was Conrad Hilton, founder of the Hilton Hotel chain, while Nicole was adopted as a child by pop superstar Lionel Richie and his family - the girls have nevertheless endured their fair share of heartache and tragedy.
![[Nicole and Paris' friendship dates back to their childhood days]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/nicole-richie-posts-throwbacks-childhood-958108379.jpg?strip=all&w=768)
As the ladies, both 43, come back together, we take a look at their far from Simple Life and the horrors that have blighted them - from drug addiction and child abuse to tragic deaths and jail time. Following her parents’ divorce in 1993, Nicole turned to drink and drugs, starting with cocaine as a teenager and ending in full blown heroin addiction by the time she was in her early twenties.
![[Paris and Nicole became TV personalities after appearing on the reality series The Simple Life in 2003]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/NINTCHDBPICT000894400664.jpg?strip=all&w=773)
According to Nicole, who went on to become a renowned fashion designer, her drug use stemmed from boredom. Speaking in 2007, she said: “I think I was just bored, I had seen everything- especially when you’re young, you just want more.”. It was her father, Lionel, who urged her into rehab just before The Simple Life aired, cancelling his tour to help her and telling a TV interview later he was convinced his daughter was going to die.
![[Nicole's ex-fiance Adam Goldstein passed away from a drug overdose in 2009]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/photo-jeff-vespa-wireimage-pure-958132146.jpg?strip=all&w=640)
