A Guide to Nicole Richie & Joel Madden’s Family as She Shares Rare Photo of Daughter
It’s been 20 years since Nicole Richie and Joel Madden first met at a party. In the two decades that have passed since then, the couple has married and started a family together.
“When I met her, I think we were both on different trains,” Madden admitted in a 2013 interview with 60 Minutes Australia. “We might have just for a second got off at the same station and met each other, and then we both got on a completely different train.”
However, although they only met “very, very briefly” at that party, according to Richie, they were an item by December 2006. They tied the knot four years later at Lionel Richie‘s home in Los Angeles on December 11, 2010.
Just months into the pair’s relationship, Richie and Madden found out they were expecting their first child together. She revealed she was “about four months pregnant” in August 2007. That child, Harlow Winter Kate Richie Madden, is now a legal adult, and her mom shared a rare photo of her on Instagram in honor of her 18th birthday on January 11.
“My favorite person in the world is now 18,” she captioned the image.
Nicole Richie/Instagram
Scroll down to learn more about Richie and Madden’s family and get an update on their relationship today.
How many kids do Nicole Richie and Joel Madden have?
Richie and Madden are parents to two children. Harlow, who now goes by her middle name “Kate” on social media, was born on January 11, 2008, followed by their son, Sparrow James Midnight Madden, on September 9, 2009. The children are 20 months apart.
“They know everything I did,” Richie admitted in a 2024 interview with Glamour, referring to her wilder days. “I knew before I had them that I was going to have to be transparent with them about who I was. And I’ve actually found freedom in that. I didn’t want my kids having some big discovery about me.”
Who are Nicole Richie and Joel Madden’s kids?
For the most part, Richie and Madden have kept Kate and Sparrow out of the spotlight. However, both kids did support their mom on the red carpet at the premiere of Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead in 2024.
Kate also has a public Instagram account with the handle @katemaddenn. Her first post is from October 2024. She mostly shares solo shots on her page, though she also has some pics with friends.
“My daughter loves fashion, but she has her own style,” Richie said in 2021. “It doesn’t have anything to do with me. She takes my clothes all the time. I have just started writing an N with a Sharpie on all of my stuff so that [she knows it’s mine].”
Sparrow seemingly just started his Instagram page in 2025 with the handle @sparrowmaddenn. He has one post from January 1, 2026, as of press time.
Meanwhile, in 2016, Richie revealed that Sparrow took after his dad in the fashion department. “He does his own thing,” she shared. “He likes to wear all black.”
Are Nicole Richie and Joel Madden still together?
Yes, Richie and Madden are going strong after 20 years together. They celebrated their 15th wedding anniversary in December 2025.
“She’s been the greatest partner. I feel lucky,” Madden gushed on Tamron Hall in 2023. Meanwhile, Richie revealed on the Call Her Daddy podcast in 2024 that she knew the rocker would be her husband on the first night they met.
“The first night I met him, he actually didn’t speak to me, and I was like, ‘This is my husband,'” she recalled.
