Joel Madden Says His Relationship with Wife Nicole Richie Is &x27;Sacred Ground&x27; as He Explains Why He&x27;s &x27;Protective&x27; of Family Rachel DeSantisTue, March 17, 2026 at 10:06 PM UTC 0 Joel Madden and Nicole Richie in West Hollywood in November 2025.Credit: Araya Doheny/Getty Joel Madden praised wife Nicole Richie for staying true to herself despite public perceptions of her past The couple, married since 2010, prioritize protecting their children from the spotlight they experienced growing up Madden described Richie as strong, classy, and the same person he fell in love with nearl...
Joel Madden Says His Relationship with Wife Nicole Richie Is 'Sacred Ground' as He Explains Why He's 'Protective' of Family
Rachel DeSantisTue, March 17, 2026 at 10:06 PM UTC
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Joel Madden and Nicole Richie in West Hollywood in November 2025.Credit: Araya Doheny/Getty -
Joel Madden praised wife Nicole Richie for staying true to herself despite public perceptions of her past
The couple, married since 2010, prioritize protecting their children from the spotlight they experienced growing up
Madden described Richie as strong, classy, and the same person he fell in love with nearly 20 years ago
Joel Madden is opening up about how wife Nicole Richie is the same person now as she was when he first met her nearly 20 years ago — regardless of the public's perception of her personality.
The Good Charlotte rocker, 47, called his relationship with Richie, 44, "sacred ground" in an interview on Bunnie Xo's Dumb Blonde podcast on Monday, March 16.
"I'm super aware of the way the world works, and the narrative of who Nicole was before the 'us,'" he said. "I don't fight it, but I will say that Nicole has always been the person she is today. I'm her biggest fan, and I was from the first time I met her, because I see someone who's very strong and has been through a lot and has integrity and self-respect."
He continued, "There's an elegance and a bit of class to being above a narrative that everyone else has chosen for you, and she was never that narrative, regardless of some mistakes that she made when she was young."
Richie rose to fame on the hit reality series The Simple Life, and was often portrayed in the media in her younger years as something of a wild child. She and Madden married in 2010, and are parents to daughter Kate, 18, and son Sparrow, 16.
(L-R) Lionel Richie, Lisa Parigi, Harlow Madden, Sparrow Madden, Nicole Richie, Brenda Harvey-Richie, and Joel Madden attend the Los Angeles premiere of "Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead" at The Grove on April 02, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.Credit: Rodin Eckenroth/Getty
Madden said on the podcast that the Richie he met in 2006 "is the person that I'm with," nothing that he didn't "save her."
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"It was very clear and easy when you meet the person that you love," he said. " 'I want to meet a nice girl and settle down and have some kids and hopefully have a nice family' was kind of the dream I always had, 'cause I didn't know what that felt like… And then we got together and we had our kids."
The singer said that he and Richie now take caution in what they share with the world, as they want to keep their children from experiencing the same glaring spotlight that they did when they were younger.
"We know that if we're not protective of our kids and our family, that everyone else can just tell stories that'll be memorialized," he said. "When you're responsible for your kids especially, you're just trying to protect them from the world a little bit, and at the same time, you're trying to teach them how the world works and how we have to move through the world."
Madden also praised his wife as being "smart," "beautiful" and "classy," and told Bunnie that he feels as though he "lucked out with her."
Richie previously opened up about the start of their relationship in a 2024 episode of the Call Her Daddy podcast, revealing that they met through a mutual friend who didn't think anything "serious" would come of it.
"Joel is very shy," she said. "The first night I met him, he actually didn't speak to me, and I was like, 'This is my husband.'"
on People
Source: "AOL Entertainment"
Source: Entertainment
Published: March 17, 2026 at 06:46PM on Source: PRIME TIME
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