Of Course Prince Gave Animal Lover Nicole Richie Her First Dog… And of Course He Was Named ‘God’

You get to experience a lot of cool stuff when your dad is one of the biggest pop stars in the world. But Nicole Richie proved on Tuesday night (April 9) that the stars are not always just like us after all. Not even close.

Chatting with Jimmy Fallon on the Tonight Show in an appearance to promote her starring role in the remake of the 1991 comedy Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead, avowed animal lover Richie ran down the list of her current and former favorite pets, including her new cat Lavender Bumblebee. The feline, of course, joins Nicole’s other favorite kitty, Tiger Lily Sprinkle Winks, who, she noted was initially “very upset” when LB came into the picture.

Richie also recalled her many trips to a pet store in L.A. with childhood bestie and reality TV co-star Paris Hilton to buy pet rats. “I don’t know why, I actually hate rats now,” she said of her expansive rat pack, all of whom were named after Beverly Hills 90210 characters. “So I don’t know why we were into them, but we were.” After rogue rat Tori Spelling ended up on her mom’s face one morning, the rats were out and Nicole moved on to her next obsession: Las Vegas-sourced ferrets.

That was far from the wildest animal tale she told, though.

“Yes, Prince got me my first dog,” Richie told Fallon about the pooch the enigmatic late pop icon gave her when she was four. “I remember because the dog’s name was God. I did not name the dog, obviously.”

Richie said she was used to interactions with superstars on a regular basis from attending her dad Lionel Richie’s concerts as a kid, though she typically kept to the backstage area. “The first time that I went in the audience — I remember this so clearly — one of the Pointer Sisters was there,” Richie said, adding that the singer in question had a cute Yorkie with a pink bow in its hair at the gig. “She’s the one who brought me out into the audience for the first time.” Fallon then shared a recent video of Nicole and sister Sofia in the crowd at one of their dad’s shows losing their minds along with everyone else in the crowd.

Richie stars alongside June Squibb, Jermaine Fowler and Gus Kenworthy in the Babysitter reboot due out on Friday (April 12).

Watch Richie on The Tonight Show below.

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