Why Didn't Nicole Richie Invite Paris Hilton To Her Wedding?
Did Paris' hookup with Benji make it awkward? Or was Nicole afraid that Paris might steal the show?
When reformed bad girl Nicole Richie finally got around to marrying long term boyfriend Joel Madden, the ceremony had everything a celeb in love could want... a star-studded guest list, a winter wonderland theme, a live elephant.
The only thing missing? Richie's former BFF, Paris Hilton.
Ugh. Don't you just hate it when all you're trying to pull off a top-secret, extravagant wedding but then the media makes a big deal out of the fact that you didn't invite your reality TV co-star, and PETA throws a hissy because you have an elephant at your reception? (Stars, they're just like us!)
According to US Weekly, there are no hard feelings between Richie and Hilton, who grew up as best friends and starred in three seasons of reality show The Simple Life before a feud caused Richie to leave the series.
"She and Nicole aren't close anymore, but there are no hard feelings there," an insider explains. "They just grew up and apart." Bride Wars: Jessica Simpson Vs. Nicole Richie
Well, one of them grew up. Richie, who battled drug addiction in her teens and early twenties, went to rehab, cleaned up her act and started a family with Madden. The couple have two children, Harlow and Sparrow, and Nicole has publicly spoken about how she believes motherhood saved her life.
As for Paris? On Nicole's wedding day, she tweeted about her activities: "Good morning everyone! Off to Vegas for my BFF @CamRaFace's Birthday! Huge! Loves it!" In other words: Paris has moved onto a new "BFF" in case you were't aware. Paris Hilton Parties With DiCaprio in South Africa
It's probably just as well that Paris was left off the guest list, since she's a former flame of the groom's identical twin brother (and Good Charlotte bandmate) Benji Madden. The potential for awkwardness there was probably too much, and, it's likely that Joel didn't want to make his best man have to face his spotlight-hogging ex-girlfriend any more than Nicole wanted her spotlight-hogging ex-friend to steal any attention away from her.
No wonder then, that X17 reported that Benji gave an absolutely adorable toast, thanking Nicole for his niece and nephew and telling her publicly how excited he was to finally have her as a sister-in-law. Awwww...
In less than cute news, Celebitchy.com also reported that Nicole had security guards confiscate cell phones at her wedding to avoid anyone leaking pics before she could sell the rights, and some of the guests were miffed.
"She was obviously trying to protect her paycheck," one guest grumbled. "But it ruined the mood because it seemed like she didn’t trust anyone." Then again, who knows whether or not Nicole should trust her supposed besties. A-List attendees Kim Kardashian and Christina Aguilera both backed out of attending, opting to work instead. And someone is leaking all that ugly gossip about Nicole having trouble selling her wedding photos.
With that much drama happening, it makes sense that Richie opted to leave Hilton out of the festivities. She seems to have gone low-profile lately, and we suspect that at least for the near future, Nicole will stay out of the headlines in favor of concentrating on her family.
On the other hand, unfortunately, it looks like we'll always have Paris.