Nicole Richie sets the record straight on name daughter goes by

Nicole Richie is setting the record straight.

Earlier this week, when commemorating her daughter’s 18th birthday, the former reality star sparked a reaction among fans when she appeared to indicate that the teenager, born Harlow Winter Kate, goes by a different name: Kate Madden.

In addition to Kate, the House Of Harlow 1960 founder and her husband Joel Madden, who she married in 2010, are also parents to son Sparrow, who is 16.

Speaking with People about the January 12 post honoring Kate, which included her Instagram handle, “katemaddennn,” Nicole not only confirmed that “she goes by her middle name,” but moreover that she “has her whole life.”

Then asked whether she had noticed all of the messages from fans in the comments section under the post reacting to the apparent name change, she simply said: “I didn’t look, but it makes sense … she goes by her middle name.”

The post, captioned, “18 years of you,” featured an array of rare photos of Kate through the years, from some more current photos of her sporting pink and black hair on different occasions.

The comments section was quickly flooded with supportive messages, with her dad Joel writing: “That’s my girl,” as her uncle Benji Madden, who is married to Cameron Diaz, added: “How to make a grown man cry!!! Love you Kate! You’re a bad ass! Never forget it! Happy 18!!”

Nicole and Joel’s kids are now both teenagers, and, speaking about the milestone to People last year, the former shared: “I very much remember I think now that I’m seeing my kids at an age where I remember everything from that age, so they’ll be telling me stories of whatever the comings and goings of them and their friends. 

“It sounds exactly like what I was going through senior year,” she continued, adding: “It’s fun. It’s like a TV show.”

© Getty Images

Nicole and Joel met at a party when they were 25 and 27 years old, respectively, and they first sparked romance rumors when they were spotted together in December 2006 at the Roosevelt Hotel bar in Hollywood.

© Donato Sardella

A few months out from the first anniversary of when they first started dating, Nicole confirmed she and Joel were expecting their first baby together, telling Diane Sawyer in an August 2007 interview that she was about four months pregnant at the time. 

Just over a year after welcoming Harlow, in February 2009, Joel confirmed that Nicole was pregnant with their second child, in a since-deleted blog post, and they welcomed Sparrow on September 9, 2009. In February 2010, Joel confirmed that he had popped the question to Nicole, writing on Twitter (now X) that they had “been engaged for a while.” They tied the knot in December of that year with about 130 guests in attendance at Nicole’s father Lionel Richie’s Los Angeles estate.