Lionel Richie has shot down reports that his daughter Nicole Richie and her husband Joel Madden are heading for divorce.
The music legend told Hello! magazine that the recent claims, made by a number of publications in the US, are “completely untrue.”
Nicole and Joel have been married for five years.
He did say that the speculation may have been sparked by the fact that the couple moved from the Laurel Canyon neighbourhood of Los Angeles to the Beverley Hills neighbourhood, where Cameron Diaz and Benji Madden live.
“They’ve bought a new house and the moving van was pulling up at their old house to move to the new one,” he explained. “Hence the story they are breaking up.”
Lionel on stage with his daughter Nicole.
And it seems Nicole isn’t bothered about the rumours either as her father asked her if she was going to comment on them, to which she responded no.
He said: “She’s a seasoned Richie… as I said to Nicole, ‘Rumours you don’t worry about. It’s when they print something and it’s true you need to worry.”
Nicole and Joel have been married since 2010 and have two children together, seven-year-old Harlow and five-year-old Sparrow.
