Posted by Adam

Wednesday September 1, 2010

NICOLE Richie‘s life was turned around by Joel Madden.

The reformed party girl — who has children Harlow, two, and Sparrow, 11 months, with the Good Charlotte rocker — has delighted her father Lionel Richie with the way she has got herself back on the right path.

“I think Joel had a lot to do with it, Joel’s an anchoring soul for Nicole,” Lionel said. “He came in the door once and said, ‘Mr. Richie, I just want to let you know I’ve got control of this.’ I was like, ‘No you don’t! Are you kidding me?’

“But I think that was the start: she found somebody that would challenge her stuff. They are a great team and I love him very much.”

The legendary soul singer — who formally adopted Nicole when she was nine — admitted seeing his daughter go off the rails as her drinking and drug taking spiraled out of control was a “brutal” experience.

“It was brutal,” he said. “You’re a parent so you’d like to just take them and put them in a basket and say: ‘I’ll protect you.’ But when they’re over 18 they get to walk out and you can’t keep them in a bubble. You have to sit and kind of watch it, because there’s nothing you can do.”

However, the Hello hitmaker is thrilled with how well the designer has taken to motherhood.

“Nicole turned into a mom! She’s done a great job, I’m really proud of her. She grabbed the bull by the horns and turned it around,” he said.

Tags: joel madden, lionel richie, nicole richie