American businesswoman, owner of music company BRP Publishing, ex-wife of singer Lionel Richie and mother of fashion designer and television personality Nicole Richie.
On 18 October 1975, she married her college sweetheart, Lionel Richie. In 1983 the couple informally adopted Nicole Camille Escovedo, the two-year-old daughter of one of the members of Lionel’s band. They raised her as their daughter, Nicole Richie, and adopted her legally when she was nine years old.
In 1986, while still married to Brenda, Lionel began a relationship with Diane Alexander. Brenda and Lionel separated and, in 1988, she allegedly discovered Richie and Alexander together in a Beverly Hills hotel room by saying she was “room service” and breaking in the door. A confrontation ensued and Brenda allegedly attacked both Richie and Alexander brutally. She was arrested for spousal abuse, trespassing, assault towards Alexander, and vandalism. Lionel and Brenda Harvey Richie divorced on 9 August 1993, after being married nearly 18 years.
Brenda Harvey Richie became a grandmother on 11 January 2008, when Nicole gave birth to a baby girl, Harlow Winter Kate Richie Madden, with the lead singer of Good Charlotte, Joel Madden. Richie’s second grandchild, Sparrow James Midnight Madden, was born to the couple on 9 September 2009.
Link to Lionel Richie: Personal life