Nicole Richie first gave a name to her alter ego a few years ago while at home tending to her garden. This was not, however, the first time she was aware of Nikki Fre$h‘s existence.
“Nikki Fre$h the person I do feel like has always lived inside of me, she was just waiting to come out,” Richie says in the latest installment of Rolling Stone‘s “The First Time” video series. “She was waiting for the right time.”
The right time has finally arrived. Richie’s upcoming comedy series, Nikki Fre$h, premieres today on Quibi, the new short-form streaming network. The series unites two of Richie’s greatest passions: wellness and hip-hop.
Richie’s love for hip-hop goes back to her childhood. One of her strongest memories of buying a record on her own was when she bought Biz Markie’s single tape, “Just a Friend,” and played it for her parents in their car. Only, they didn’t exactly share her feelings for the song.
“I don’t even think they were really dissing it, they were just like, being parents and talking about it,” says Richie. “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,” Richie recalls. She adds, “I’ll talk about it in family therapy.”
Elsewhere in the video, she reminisces on the first concert she attended — that wasn’t her famous father’s.
“The first non-family member concert was the Madonna Blonde Ambition Tour. 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,” says Richie. “But I did do a little peek, and it inspired me for my older years.”
