It was the show that kickstarted their careers, but Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie admit their parents warned them against signing up for now iconic reality series The Simple Life.
Launching on Fox 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.
It was the show that kickstarted their careers, but Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie admit their parents warned them against signing up for now iconic reality series The Simple Life
Launching on Fox 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 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.
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
Paris is the daughter of businessman Richard Hilton and his TV personality wife Kathy (pictured, with younger sister Nicky Rothschild-Hilton, in 2021)
Nicole is legally adopted by Motown legend Lionel Richie as a baby (pictured together in an undated Instagram photo)
‘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.’
During its original run the two friends drove the blue collar American heartland in their pink pink-up truck, taking on jobs at local farms, fast food restaurants and rest rooms along the way.
The reunion will see them revisit some of their old haunts on the show, as well as former employees and the employers they traumatized with their on-set antics.
Paris added: ‘Going back to where it all started was really important. We go back to Arkansas, back to Altus, go visit the family and people that we worked for. It was so special.’
The pair will also give the reunion a unique twist – by turning Sanasa – a playful song they created as children – into an opera.
‘We just wanted to do something different than all the other reunions,’ said Hilton. ‘The Simple Life was so innovative and so new to the world. It’s such a special show to celebrate, and we just wanted to do it in the most extra and extravagant way.
‘And it’s funny because we’re going to be fish out of water in this as well, because us being in the opera world is…’
She added: Together we came up with this amazing treatment, and then we had pitch meetings with all the big networks. Everybody wanted it. Bidding war.’
The full interview is available in the UK December Digital Issue of Glamour UK, online now.
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
The full interview is available in the UK December Digital Issue of Glamour UK, online now
