Fresh Off 'Making the Cut,' Nicole Richie Has New Gig

Gettyimages | Pascal Le Segretain

Fans first got to know Nicole Richie when she appeared alongside former bestie Paris Hilton on the series "The Simple Life." While the Fox series ultimately derailed their friendship, Richie has used it to catapult her career, while Hilton's has stagnated. Up next for Richie, who judged the new fashion series "Making the Cut" with Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn, is a comedy series on the short-form streaming channel Quibi. In it, Richie weaves together two of her two loves, wellness and hip-hop, into one show.

While audiences are still immersed in "Making the Cut," Richie is introducing her character, Nikki Fre$h, in a comedy series of the same name. It celebrates wellness and hip-hop, her two loves aside from her family - husband Joel Madden, and their two children. "Nikki Fre$h the person I do feel like has always lived inside of me, she was just waiting to come out," Richie says in the most recent installment of Rolling Stone magazine's "The First Time" video series. "She was waiting for the right time."

Richie's new comedy series starts streaming on Quibi, a channel that also counts Chrissy Tiegen among its stars.

Richie's love for hip-hop dates back to her childhood, when she bought her first record, Biz Markie's "Just a Friend," and played it for her parents, Lionel Richie and his ex-wife, Brenda Harvey. Her parents, however, didn't love the song. "I don't even think they were really dissing it, they were just like, being parents and talking about it," Richie told Rolling Stone. "They probably said something along the lines of like, 'Oh, music today!' But all I know was, I was in the back seat and I was really upset and I got my feelings hurt and I cried."

Music is not far from Richie's many loves, not just because her father and husband both are musicians - Madden is with the group Good Charlotte - but because she hoped to record her own album at some point in her career. "I do eventually, but right now I have a lot on my plate," she told People magazine in 2008. Two years later, Richie was featured on the charity single "We Are the World 25 for Haiti," 25 years after the original recording. Richie was four, and she watched her father perform.

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Aside from family concerts, the first show Richie attended was the Madonna Blonde Ambition Tour, Richie told Rolling Stone. "She did 'Like a Virgin'on a bed with strobe lights and I wasn;t allowed to look. I had to close my eyes the whole time. But I did do a little peek, and it inspired me for my older years."

In 2008, Richie was offered the role of Roxie Hart in the musical 'Chicago.' In 2013, she made a cameo on Christina Aguilera's music video for the single "Let There Be Love."

'Nikki Fre$h' is her first venture to combine acting and music.