Lionel Richie Says Daughter Nicole and Drew Barrymore 'Almost Killed' Him With Wild Child Years

Nicole and Lionel Richie
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The legendary performer spoke with Barrymore about her longtime friendship with his daughter, Nicole Richie.

Lionel Richie feels lucky to have survived his daughter, Nicole Richie's, early years. The 73-year-old performer appeared on Thursday's episode of The Drew Barrymore Show, where he opened up to host Drew Barrymore, 48, about her wild child years with his daughter.

"I think Nicole and I have figured out how to have so much fun and then pull it together and be really good moms," Drew said of the 41-year-old mother of two.

"I don't even know how that happened!" Lionel quipped about both moms' transformations. "You know, as parents, you go, this is going to be a disaster."

Lionel joked of Nicole's famous years partying with pal Paris Hilton, "If I lived through that, I can live through anything."

After Lionel noted that he never thought Nicole and her friends would turn into wives and mothers, Drew exclaimed, "We turned out OK!"

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"You all almost killed me. I'm so glad you got it out of your system," Lionel joked. "You almost cut my system off. I almost lost consciousness."

He went on to ask Drew, "Who's going to pay me back for all that medication I took?"

"Both of us will!" Drew joked of herself and Nicole.

Lionel shared that he'd receive late-night phone calls from the local sheriff, saying, "I'm thinking to myself, 'What did she do now?' 'Well, she went down the wrong way of the freeway.'"

The "Easy" singer joked that during those years, he was "somewhere between meditation and medication."

Drew, now a mother of two herself, asked Lionel, "You're just excited for us all to get a little bit of parental payback, aren't you?"

"Awww yes," the American Idol judge said. "You know I am."

Lionel and his ex-wife, Brenda Harvey, adopted Nicole from a member of Lionel's band. He also shares 28-year-old son Miles and 24-year-old daughter Sofia with his ex-wife, Diane Alexander.

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