Cover of The Truth About Diamonds: A Novel

Born

Nicole Camile Escovedo on September 21st 1981, in Berkeley, California, United States.

Education

Started  a Kindergarten at “The Buckley School,” in Sherman Oaks, California,where she met Paris Hilton.

She graduated from Montclair College preparatory School in 1999 & went on to study Arts & Media for two years at the University of Arizona.

Musical Prowess

Member of a Rock Band “Darling” & she made her musical debut in February 2005 with ABC’s “The View” playing the piano & told of her desire to cut an album. She was featured in the charity single “We Are The World” for Haiti & she recalled that she was just 4 years old when she watched her Dad record this song & that she was proud to have the chance to be part of that song again & to help make a difference in Haiti. 

Career

Socialite, Television Personality, Actress, Fashion Designer

Family

Father was Peter Michael Escovedo, a musician who once played for Lionel Richie.

Her mother Sheila Escovedo was an executive assistant for Richie.

Myles (Born 1994) & Sofia (Born 1998) were children from Lionel Richie’s second marriage  & therefore half siblings to Nicole.

She is married to Joel Madden  the couple have two children Harlow Winter Kate born in 2008 Sparrow James Midnight born in 2009. 

Nicole also has one God mother Nancy Davis, daughter of Martin Davis & mother of Brandon Davis.

Quincy Jones & Michael Jackson were both Godfathers. Quincy Jones described Nicole in “People” Magazine as a “very smart girl.”

Adopted

Her birth parents found it difficult to provide for her & so at the age of three she went to live with Lionel Richie & wife Brenda. This was a less painful arrangement as they were friends & they trusted him to provide a better life for their daughter.

The arrangementstarted with guardianship, but at aged nine the couple adopted Nicole.  Nicole began psychotherapy at aged three & remained in therapy throughout her childhood.  

Family Extra

After the adoption Lionel Richie had an affair with another woman & the affair became public knowledge & the Richies went through a bitter public split.  As a result of this Nicole was “completely indulged” as this was their way of ensuring that Nicole was happy, anything she asked for was always greeted with a “yes.”

Richie was later on record as saying “Yes I had everything I wanted, but I don’t think a little girl should have that much freedom.” (Vanity Fair)

Actress

Richie is probably best recognised for her role in the reality television programme, “The Simple Life.” The programme was produced by “Fox.” She & Paris her best friend at the time starred in this reality show that required them to live with a family in the rural community of Altus, Arkansas.  The inauguration was on December 2nd 2003 & the response achieved high ratings.  The premiere resulted in a 13 million audience rating & was to have success for several series & more.

During the fifth series both Richie & Hilton faced serious drug related charges & Hilton served 23 days in prison & Richie four days.

The two friends parted company in April 2005.

The Richie Madden Children’s Foundation 

In recent times Nicole’s focus has been on her charity work and more specifically “environmental issues & along with her husband Joel Madden they created “The Richie Madden Children’s Foundation.

Personal Trauma

Her personal comings & goings have attracted increased publicity in the tabloid press:

• Her dramatically thin appearance, sparking rumours of an eating disorder.
• Drink driving arrests in 2003 & 6.
• Her alleged drug abuse in her late teens & early twenties.     

Career Development

Stardom arrived for Nicole as a result of her personality, which is somewhat outspoken & comic.  In 2005 however she made her acting debut in the comedy drama “Kids in America.” Other credits in which she guest starred included:

Eve

Six Feet Under

American Dreams

8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter 

Heather Chandler on “Chuck.”

In 2008 she was offered the lead role in the smash hit musical “Chicago.”

Author

In 2008 plans were announced to convert her novel “The Truth About Diamonds” into a televisionseries. The Truth About Diamonds was published by “Bharell Jackson Publishing.” The story is loosely based on her on life, but is primarily fictional.

It tells the story of a “Chloe Parker” the adopted daughter of a singer who makes her way through all the “top hotspots” and socialite parties in Hollywood & battles drug addiction.  It reached No 32 in Hardcover (fiction) & was No 22 on the “New York Times Best Seller List.”

Richie wrote another book on September 28th 2010 which cites a story about a girl who had everything & lost it all & then learnt what really mattered in life.

Design & Fashion

The Face of Bongo Jeans & Jimmy Choo advertising.

In April 2007 she set up a Jewellery Accessories & Perfume business & followed that with a jewellery line “House Of Harlow 1960″ in October 2008. 

In 2009 she teamed up with maternity store “Pea in the Pod” to create a new maternity clothes range & the range was entitled “Nicole.”

The line was marketed on Kitson’s on line Boutique. In the spring of 2010 range was extended to include apparel & shoes, she also expanded her fashion business with a women’s line entitled “Winter Kate.”

2010

She was awarded “Entrepreneur of the Year” for her House Of Harlow 1960 brand at the “Glamour Women of the Year Awards,” this range was also nominated in the category “Celebrity Fashion Line, at the 2010 Teen Choice Awards.  

Judge

She was a judge on “Project Runway in January 2010.

And Finally Something Different

Nicole brought elephants to her wedding, so that guests could ride them, something she had previously told “People” magazine that she wanted to arrange.

Overview

Having a fabulous singer for a father certainly will have given Nicole “unique opportunities” but her ability to overcome significant past difficulties, in respect of her drug addiction & turn it around in such an impressive manner.  So much so that at the age of 29 years she has acted, become an author & begun successful fashion businesses, is quite remarkable & with all that still managed to get involved significant amounts of charity work including environmental groups & support for children with UNICEF demonstratesfor me why this young woman is immensely popular with American people. Why because it would appear that Nicole despite her privileges”identifies with them.”

She does however, bring to mind “celebrity status” individuals here in the UK who can easily promote themselves & there is a pattern with some of Nicole’s career route, that would make it easy for her to befriend such British celebrities.  That said it should not be forgotten that Nicole has already achieved much & her fans will enjoy watching her progress as she will no doubt continue to shock & excite & entertain as we move through the coming years.

I wish this very entertaining & popular lady well for the future, but would specifically urge her to consider some work in schools, to warn children of the dangers that drugs can bring.  Why Nicole, because she knows first hand of those dangers, but most of all because she could put out a message, that American kids are more likely to listen to.

Acknowledgements

Vanity Fair

People Magazine

The Richie Madden Children’s Foundation

Bharell Jackson Publishing

Wikipedia

MOVE TO LOS ANGELES

If you don’t already live there, move to Los Angeles. You can be a socialite and not live in L.A., but it will be much harder. West Hollywood, Los Angeles, and Beverly Hills is where the well-known paparazzi television show TMZ gets most of there footage.

FREQUENT RODEO DR., THE SUNSET STRIP AND HOLLYWOOD BLVD.

On any given night you are bound to see a film or music star coming out of a store or nightclub. And where there are stars there are paparazzi. You can easily be spot with a star signing your autograph, taking a picture with you, or you just being in the background of a photo.

FOLLOW SOCIALITES ON TWITTER, FACEBOOK ETC.

Know where they are going to be. You never know what can happen. You can make a crucial contact, talk to one of their entourage etc. The possibilities are endless. If you are not where things are happening, then you will not be a socialite.

PROMOTE YOURSELF ON THE INTERNET

I don’t mean just have a twitter, blog, facebook account and post videos on youtube, I’m talking about make yourself a brand. Have a youtube channel of videos of you actually being at popular events. Have followers that actually see you as a leader when you go out. Invite people to come hang with you via twitter when you go to an event. Actually treat people who you talk to on facebook as fans. To be a socialite, you have to act like a sociate.

DON’T DO A SEX TAPE

That’s right, don’t do one. It is typical and cliche. You have come up with something more clever than a sex tape. A comedy mock sex tape would be fun. No better example of this is Eva Mendes, who was absolutely perfect in her video.

You can watch the video here.

Image via Wikipedia

Image via Wikipedia

In Los Angeles arrested a man who tried to enter the house of Paris Hilton. The incident occurred about six in the morning, when Hilton was sleeping. Maniac, trying to get into the mansion, was armed with two large knives. This Paris reported in his blog on Twitter. “So terrible – just me trying to break into the house guy, armed with two large knives. The police are already here and arrested him. “ 

Socialite was lucky that the attacker was unable to penetrate into the house, as the time of alarm and surveillance cameras. At police headquarters confirmed the arrest of the suspect and told that the incident occurred on August 24. But police have not named the arrested person and did not report on whether there was, in his arms.

The individual is otherwise a small part of a largely impersonal whole which goes on while we are asleep and functions after our deaths. Society does not hiccup when you go to sleep forever, it has its own agenda especially  according to those who feel that the person can only be affected by it and interact with whatever it induces. That may make it sound like straight out of a Kafka novel, one where a man is taken away by the authorities against his knowledge and is never quite clear about the reasons behind it. One the other hand his interaction with society be be quite pleasant and much less anxiety provoking.

We learn and copy from our elders; behavorists would see commonalities between parent and child and even common spoken phrases and manners. According to modern day theories encompassing social behaviour, the individual either conforms to the society around him or divorces himself from it. He acts in concert with the forces of the society that he identifies with or removes himself from that. There according to certain sociologists could be the beginnings of criminal behaviour just as there could be the beginnings of suicidal behaviour. The person could become a fully integrated socialite or a recluse.

Society can nurture and feed the individual and the individual can then take off and become a very productive element or he can slip into isolation if he is uninspired by mass culture. That may depend on the man’s nature, some say affected by the person’s genetic makeup, others say affected by the person’s social intercourse, to the learning he received from his parents and peers. Some say he is a product of both, a mixture which has laid a framework for modern genetic studies and phenotypes and genotype specifically.The question in debate is whether we are product of who nutures us or we are what our nature dictates or we are a product of both, one adding onto the other.

Man is still a mystery especially when he does socialize for part of his life and then goes away to live in obscurity or vice-versa, when he was irreproachable as the Dalai Lama was hundreds of years back compared to the charismatic figure travelling the globe with his message of peace and love. Or perhaps history has not accurately informed us of how such figures actually interacted with society centuries ago.

1. Rudolph Valentino (Actor) Married Jean Hacker (Actress)

   Rudolph Valentinomarried Jean Hacker on November 5th 1919. Valentino was locked out of the bedroom on his wedding night by his new bride and the marriage was ended after just six hours.

2. Zsa Zsa Gabor (celebrity) married Felipe de Alba (socialite)

   They married on April 13th 1983 and their union lasted just 24 hours. The marriage was annulled because the actress was still legally married to Michael O’Hara. Zsa Zsa reportedly commented that she was a wonderful housekeeper and that whenever she left a man, she kept his house.

3. Jean Arthur (actress) married Julian Anker

   They were married in 1928. They did this almost on a whim and both sets of parents objected strongly to the union, so the marriage was annulled the next day. They had been married for exactly twenty-four hours.

4. Britney Spears (singer) married Jason Alexander

   She married her childhood sweetheart on January 3rd 2004. They were married in the Little White Chapel in Las Vegas. She wore a baseball cap and ripped jeans and the two twenty two year olds decided to do something totally wild. After two days they decided they had made a mistake and had the judge annul the marriage.

5. Gloria Swanson (actress) married Wallace Berry (actor)

   They were married a long time in comparison to celebrities already mentioned. They married in March 1916 and separated three weeks later after disagreements over whether, or not to have a baby and Gloria’s desire for a fancy lifestyle.

6. Germaine Greer (writer) married Paul de Feu (male model)

   They married in May 1968. He was a nude centerfold model for the London edition of Cosmopolitan Magazine. She was attracted by this but the novelty wore off within the month.

7. Drew Barrymore (actress) married Jeffrey Thomas (bartender)

   They were married in 1994. She later admitted that she only married him so that he could get a green card to stay in the United States and the marriage was ended after just three weeks.

Where celebrity marriages are concerned, Valentino and Jean Hacker seem to have the record for keeping their wedding vows for the shortest length of time with their six hour marriage. At the other end of the scale it looks as though Bob Hope (singer and actor) holds the record for the longest celebrity marriage with a whopping great sixty nine years.