Once upon a time Brenda Harvey-Richie was the talk of the town in the City of Angels. The Alabama native has achieved great fame in Hollywood, not only for her marriage to budding musician Lionel Richie, but also for watching her and making her worthy. Read on to find out more about what happened to her marriage to the Grammy-winning singer and what she’s been up to since.
the biography
On September 2, 1952, Brenda Harvey-Richie was born in Brewton, Alabama, one of her parents’ two children. Lucille and Marshall Harvey. His brother’s name is Stephen Harvey. Nothing else is known about her family except that she is of African-American descent and has American citizenship.
Just as details about his family are not known, very little is also known about his childhood. A look at her educational background, however, reveals that she attended Southern Normal School in her hometown of Brewton before enrolling at Tuskegee University. She went on to obtain the degrees in social work and graduated in 1974.
Other Brenda Harvey-Richie Facts
Relationship with Lionel Richie
There are conflicting reports as to where and when exactly Lionel Richie and Brenda Harvey-Richie started dating. Some reports say the two were high school sweethearts, while others say their relationship began at Tuskegee University, where Richie participated in a tennis scholarship.
Regardless of these, the two were said to have been deeply in love with each other when they were in college. Lionel’s commitments to his musical group, the Commodores, however, meant that he was not always present as he had to go on tour. This nearly ended the relationship when Harvey-Richie met another person who she had nearly become engaged to if Lionel hadn’t returned at the right time to pick her up.
A year after Brenda Harvey-Richie graduated from college, she and her musician lover exchanged marital vows and became husband and wife in 1975. During their marriage, Lionel Richie was able to stand out into a successful solo career that has ensured the pair are still the talk of the town. Everything looked rosy from afar for the two men until the news broke that Lionel was cheating on his wife.
Lionel was having an affair with dancer DianeAlexander whom he reportedly met at the 1984 Olympics. Things between the two got serious in 1986, but it wasn’t until two years later that Harvey-Richie found out about the affair when she suddenly showed up at her husband’s mistress, Beverly Hills, where she caught the two. Harvey-Richie angrily reportedly punched her husband in the stomach as he ran away before turning to the woman. Lionel Richie and neighbors who heard the rumor then called the police who arrived just in time to save Alexander from Harvey-Richie’s wrath.
Brenda Harvey-Richie was later arrested on charges of bodily harm to a spouse, resisting arrest, trespassing, vandalism, assault and battery, and disturbing the public order. The next morning, she posted $5,000 bail and was released. She and her husband became embroiled in a vile divorce which was finalized in 1993.
She has an adopted daughter
Unlike her ex-husband who then had their own children with his second wife, Brenda Harvey-Richie has no children of her own. She was, however, able to adopt a daughter named Nicole Richie with her husband during their life together.
Nicole Richie is the biological daughter of musician and bandmate Richie, Peter Micheal Escovedo and his wife Karen Moss. The couple decided to give their daughter to the Richies when she was around three years old after struggling to provide for the baby. The Richie’s officially adopted Nicole when she was nine years old, giving her the best education money could afford. She became, among other things, a fashion designer, author and actress.
Net value
Although the exact figure of her net worth is not known, Brenda Harvey-Richie is doing very well for herself. She notably owns a music publishing company named Brenda Richie Publishing, of which she is President and CEO. His company notably owns the rights to most Lionel Richie classics, including “Hello,” “All Night Long,” “Dancing on the Ceiling” and “Say You, Say Me.”