Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie have revealed the real reason behind their feud nearly two decades ago but fans are not so convinced they are telling the truth.
The two reality stars, both 43, – who are celebrating the 20th anniversary of The Simple Life – appeared on the Call Her Daddy podcast with Alex Cooper as they touched on several different topics including the fracturing of their friendship in 2005.
At the time the two had actually filmed season 4 of their reality show separately and the 30-year-old podcast host pulled no punches as she asked about it.
Nicole first prefaced it by saying that the real reason wouldn’t ‘be good enough’ as ‘nothing really happened.’
Paris then went on to blame the way they were covered as she cited that it was a way for publications to sell magazines.
She said: ‘Back then, the media was just so toxic and they loved starting feuds between people.’
The mother-of-two went on to explain: ‘So it was mostly the media just spinning things and creating drama that didn’t exist, which was normal in the 2000s. They did it with everyone.’
Nicole added that the fact that they were in their early 20s was also to blame as they ‘didn’t know how to communicate with each other,” which meant that “if [they] were hearing something, [they] would assume [it was true].
‘We didn’t have the communication skills we have right now to have check-ins, which is so important.’
The daughter of Lionel Richie went on to say that the time away from each other makes her ‘sad to think about a time without [her] friend.
‘I think it has really helped me [with] communicating at this stage in my life.
‘And I think just with all relationships, it’s so important to have check-ins and to be honest and real and, you know, tender with the people that you love the most.’
However some fans of Paris and Nicole were not convinced by their reasoning as one commented on clip from the Interview on YouTube: ‘Nicole know what she done, it was very mean !’
The user seemed to be alluding to a People report from April 2005 that a source said that Nicole was jealous of being left our of events like Paris’ Saturday Night Live Hosting gig.
it was rumored at the time that Nicole had thrown a party to celebrate the SNL stint and screened Paris’ sex tape instead. Richie has denied the incident since then.
Earlier this week the dynamic duo turned heads in stylish ensembles while arriving to the Today show to promote their new Peacock series, Paris & Nicole: The Encore.
As the longtime best friends sat down with journalist, Hoda Kotb, on Monday, the duo spoke about celebrating the 20th anniversary of their hit show, The Simple Life, with an opera song and returning to Arkansas for their new reunion series.
When asked what inspired them to reboot The Simple Life after two decades, Richie, 43, explained she and Hilton, also 43, had been ‘talking about it over the phone’ for a long time.
‘We were talking about it over the phone and we just decided, you know what, it’s been 20 years, we are excited to do it and celebrate a reunion,’ the fashion designer explained.
After thinking long and hard what a reunion would involve and ‘look like’ for them, Richie said they settled on doing an opera together.
‘Nicole and I always like experiencing things that we have never experienced before. The opera world, obviously, is very new to us. But that’s what makes our shows funny,’ Hilton chimed in.
On Paris & Nicole: The Encore, the women attempt to produce an opera based on their iconic song, Sanasa, which they proudly wrote when they were both just seven.
Kotb went on to ask the duo if they could remember who said which famous lines from The Simple Life.
This included: ‘Do they sell Marc Jacobs or Chanel in this grocery store?’
This was famously uttered by Hilton while Richie admitted she once said: ‘I don’t like good looking guys. I like them be really skinny and pale and look like they’re dying.’
For their appearance, Hilton wore a white midi dress with a diamond silver bow at the neckline and Chanel purse.
Her other half stunned in a furry snow leopard coat over a matching skirt and black turtleneck.
The upcoming, three-part show will see the reality legends teaming up again to turn their Simple Life ditty, Sanasa, into an opera, more than 20 years after they first made it famous on their hit Y2K era series.
A glamorous trailer teasing all the hilarity was released earlier this month – and fans were left ‘screaming’ and ‘physically shaking’ in response to the trailer.
In the comments section of Peacock’s post promoting the trailer, one fan boldly declared, ‘This will heal America.’
‘i’m shaking. i’m PHYSICALLY SHAKING,’ another proclaimed.
‘The founding mothers are back,’ one fan wrote.
The new trailer captures the women transforming Sanasa, the song they sang on the original Simple Life series, into a full-blown opera and returning to the state where their show kicked off, Arkansas.
‘We decided to turn our famous song, Sanasa, into an opera,’ Nicole explains to Paris’ mother Kathy Hilton.
‘What?’ she bluntly replies.
‘Sanasa, sanasa,’ the women begin singing.
With the help of singing sensation Sia, the duo hold auditions and stage a full opera centered around their simple song.
The trailer even sees the duo returning to Arkansas on a private jet, where they stop by an intersection named after them.
They even return to some of their old Simple Life hijinks as they work at a Sonic drive-in.
The three-part reunion special will premiere on Peacock on December 12.
Recently the duo admitted their parents warned them against signing up for now iconic reality series The Simple Life.
Launched in 2004, the show turned childhood friends Paris and Nicole into Y2K era icons with its depiction of the pair as hopelessly spoiled socialites who try their hand at a variety of low paying, menial and frequently thankless jobs – with hilarious results.
But a reported rift between its two principal stars led to the show’s cancellation in 2007, with season five – in which the girls take jobs as summer camp counsellors- their last, until now.
Seventeen years older and considerably wiser, the pair are set to revive the format for a surprise return – but it might never have happened at all had they heeded the advice of their concerned parents.
Reflecting on its original concept with the digital December edition of Glamour UK, Paris – the daughter of businessman Richard Hilton and his TV personality wife Kathy – and Nicole – legally adopted by Motown legend Lionel Richie as a baby – admit their respective families vetoed the idea as soon as they heard it.
‘Our parents did not want us to do it and told us not to,’ recalled Paris. ‘It was the first of its kind. They hear that we’re going to be sent somewhere and we don’t know where we’re going.
‘But after the first episode aired, my mom called me and she’s like, “This is the most hilarious show I’ve ever seen in my life. You and Nicole are incredible.” She’s like, “I was wrong for once.”
Thrust into a series unfamiliar working environments, the pair were routinely portrayed as airheaded brats with no real understanding of the world beyond their cossetted Beverly Hills surroundings.
‘For me, it’s definitely a character,’ Paris said of her onscreen persona. ‘When Nicole and I got approached to do this, they described it as Green Acres meets Clueless, so I knew what the audience wanted – that blonde-airhead type of character.
‘So I really played into that with questions like, “What’s Walmart?” I always knew what I was doing because I’m not a dumb blonde. I’m just very good at pretending to be one.’
Now 43 years old, the pair will resurrect their ditzy alter-egos for a three-part reunion special, available to watch on Peacock and Amazon Prime.
And they hope to win a new, younger legion of fans when it finally streams.
‘The people that watched The Simple Life when it originally came out might know that we’ve been friends since we were two, but I don’t necessarily think everyone is as familiar with that now,’ said Nicole.
‘And so we take you around parts of LA where we used to hang out, what we used to do in our childhood.
‘So really just painting a picture of what our friendship and our life was before we even did the show so that you really understand why when the opportunity came up for us to do it, it was just an automatic yes.’
