Lionel Richie has been wowing audiences since his days in The Commodores. In the 80s, he embarked on a solo career and released songs like “All Night Long” and “Truly.” Known as one of the best-selling artists in the world, he also makes headlines for his often turbulent relationships, which have resulted in two marriages and two divorces. These days, the veteran singer has a much younger woman on his arm, but his journey to finding true love hasn’t been easy.
Here’s what we know about Lionel Richie’s new girlfriend and his turbulent love life.
Young love goes sour
Before we can give you all the juicy details about Lionel Richie’s new girlfriend, we have to take you back to his first marriage with his college sweetheart, Brenda Harvey. They got married in 1975, and after they were unable to conceive, they took in a little girl who was the daughter of a musician that toured with Lionel. They legally adopted her when she was nine, and she became known as Nicole Richie.
Their lives were complete. However, Lionel’s father’s health began to decline, and he turned to Brenda who was his rock. He told the Sun-Sentinel, “She ran everything that was not music.”
Brenda became Lionel’s greatest asset. While he played the role of the nice guy, Brenda was the one who would step up and protect Lionel during his business dealings. He said, “She doesn’t take any from anybody.”
But things between them began to crumble. Lionel admitted in an interview with the Sun-Sentinel that Brenda was tortured by his wandering eyes. While performing at the 1984 Summer Olympics, 35-year-old Lionel met 17-year-old Diane Alexander. She was there to dance during the closing ceremonies, while Lionel was performing. According to court docs, Diane claims they began dating the same year they met, and Lionel began paying for her living expenses, bought her cars, and regularly spoiled her with expensive gifts. Diane even appeared in the music video for his 1986 song, “Dancing on the Ceiling.” But Diane was reportedly one of many women.
Lionel said he took countless vacations that didn’t include his wife Brenda, would travel back home to Alabama without her, and would always use his dad as an excuse so he could spend time away from her. He added, “Even when I was physically home, I wasn’t talking.”
When he was diagnosed with polyps on one of his vocal cords, things got worse. His doctors told him he might never sing again, and he was terrified thinking he could lose his voice. Thankfully, after three surgeries, he was on the mend and was able to make a full recovery. However, things in his personal life went on a downward spiral.
An affair with a younger woman turns violent
In 1986, he took a break from the industry. He lost a close friend from complications from AIDS, his father passed away in 1990, and Brenda once again became his rock. But it wasn’t long before Lionel was back to his old ways. He admitted he was tempted by women, money, and travel. While on tour, he experienced many women and had multiple affairs. However, he refused to describe himself as being unfaithful. He said, “I call that growth and I call that being very human, but in the long run, it was called ‘straining your marriage.”‘
Lionel continued his affair with Diane, and in 1987, he and Brenda separated. Lionel filed for divorce in 1988, and that’s when things really got crazy.
According to People magazine, Brenda caught Lionel at Diane’s Beverly Hills apartment at 2 in the morning, and all heck broke loose. Brenda reportedly kicked Lionel below the belt. He ran out of the apartment, hopped in his Porsche, and drove away into the night. With Lionel out of the way, Brenda directed her rage towards his mistress. She proceeded to beat the brakes off of Diane, and when the cops arrived, there was a trail of hair and broken glass on the floor. Brenda was reportedly seen kicking Diane on the kitchen floor, and it reportedly took four officers to pull Brenda away from the scene. Brenda was locked up, Lionel’s good-guy image was ruined, and his womanizing ways were put on blast.
He told the Sun-Sentinel he felt, quote, “anger and total humiliation” following the incident. And even though Diane went through a terrifying situation that night, he still refused to call her his girlfriend. He said, “Anybody that I was talking to that night would have been the glorified woman of the hour.”
Lionel and Diane moved in together in 1992, and his divorce from Brenda was finalized in 1993. Surprisingly, the dissolution of his marriage caused him and Brenda to form a strong bond that was based on friendship. He told the Sun-Sentinel he and his ex-wife were communicating better based on their mutual love for their daughter Nicole. He also said they had forgiven each other for the past.
Moving on with Diane but paranoid about love
Even though he was living with Diane, he admitted to the publication he was very paranoid about falling in love again. He said, ”I am in a state of aloneness, in a state of dreaming, of fantasizing about that dream person.”
He and Diane welcomed their son Miles in 1994, got married in 1995, and had a baby girl named Sofia in 1998. In court docs, Diane stated Lionel convinced her to quit her job as a clothing manufacturer and told her to close down her clothing boutique called Alexander Brown so she could focus on raising their kids.
She lived a lavish lifestyle that included monthly facials, hair and nail appointments, laser hair removal, therapy, credit cards without any limits, frequent shopping sprees, five-star vacations, and a $20,000 dollar a year plastic surgery budget. Their son Miles was sent to a Colorado boarding school that had tuition of $150,000 dollars per year, and their daughter Sofia’s private school tuition set them back $16,000 dollars per year.
They had more than enough money to keep them afloat. Diane claimed they spent over $300,000 dollars every month and lived a comfortable lifestyle in their $40 million dollar home.
The end of Lionel and Diane Richie
Sadly, Lionel and Diane’s marriage was doomed. Diane filed for a legal separation in 2003, before filing for divorce in 2004. Lionel reportedly agreed to a settlement that would pay her a little over $1 million dollars a year. The duration of the yearly payments was kept private.
So what went wrong? In an interview, Lionel said when they first got together, Diane was used to him being at home every day. But when he went back to work, he was traveling a lot. Sometimes he wouldn’t see her for weeks at a time. Lionel stated, “Absence is not healthy.” He also said their breakup was a mutual decision.
Here’s what we know about Lionel Richie’s new girlfriend
While Lionel continued to be active in the music and entertainment industry, there wasn’t much news about his love life until he popped up with a young hottie named Lisa Parigi in 2014. While we know she’s way younger than Lionel, with some people claiming she’s 40 years younger than him, she has successfully kept her age under wraps.
According to Heavy website, Lisa spent her childhood and early adulthood in Switzerland, and her unique looks are thanks to a Caribbean and Chinese background. Not only beautiful, but she’s also quite accomplished and speaks four languages including; English, German, French and Swiss German.
At one point, she was a model and also spent time in the corporate world. According to her website, she has held key positions at numerous IT-focused Fortune 500 companies. She’s also the curator behind the lifestyle blog called Dream Design Discover.
She founded her own lifestyle brand named The Estate Collection, where she sells a variety of fragrance oils and candles.
In an interview with People magazine, Lionel called Lisa “extremely beautiful” and added, “Most importantly she’s smart and helps me deal with my crazy world.”
Are Lionel Richie and his new girlfriend open to getting married?
In 2016, 67-year-old Lionel said he and Lisa were open to having children together. However, he wasn’t certain he would walk down the aisle again. He told The Mirror his two previous marriages were very expensive, so he wasn’t sure about going at it for a third time. He went on to say that women have ruined marriage for him. He added, “Kids aren’t the problem – ex-wives are. That’s why I won’t marry again, but I’m happy to commit in other ways.”
Lisa agreed with Lionel and started she was happy with how their relationship was going. In fact, she recognized that Lionel had been through a lot with his previous marriages and said she didn’t need a ring to validate their relationship.
But years later, during a 2019 interview with AP News, Lionel seemingly had a change of heart. He said he wasn’t sure exactly when marriage would happen for them, but it was in his plans.
Lionel and Lisa’s relationship appears to be as strong as ever. They spend a lot of quality time together and have no issue with expressing their love for each other. Lionel has been spotted treating Lisa to lavish shopping sprees, and she’s tight with his children, grandchildren, and his first wife Brenda. They appear to be one big happy family, and we wish them the best.
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