Tragic Details About Lionel Richie's Daughter Sofia

Having a famous dad has its perks, especially when it's music legend Lionel Richie. His daughter Sofia Richie's childhood was far from normal, growing up amidst the glamour of the entertainment industry and rubbing elbows with other music greats — including Michael Jackson, who just so happened to be her godfather. Sofia's stunning transformation from a nepo baby to a career-driven model, wife, and mother has been watched around the world, as fans of the Richie family are excited to see the young celebrity come into her own. At the same time, her celebrity status has had its drawbacks.

Sofia's stardom has inundated her with vitriol about everything from her racial identity to her relationships. The social media influencer has been romantically linked to the likes of Hollywood's finest, including Justin Bieber and Scott Disick — the latter relationship boosted her popularity, or unpopularity, depending on who you talked to. Sofia eventually found the one in her now-husband, Elliot Grainge, with whom she shares a daughter. After becoming a mom, Sofia has been candid about her pregnancy and postpartum struggles. She has done it all under the laser-focused public eye, dodging scrutiny all while building her own path to fame.

Sofia Richie's family likely never lived a day without being blinded by the flash of a camera. Being the daughter of Lionel Richie and even the sister of reality star Nicole Richie, Sofia's blood relation was tantalizing enough for the press to crave any ounce of information about her. She told The London Standard in 2016 that paparazzi practically had a 24-hour patrol on her and her fellow Hollywood friends. "If they see my car, they are just going to follow," she said, adding that the photographers could get aggressive. Sofia remembered being swarmed by them so intensely that her father was concerned. She continued: "Another time, the same person would follow me over and over and over again, and it turned out that someone had put a tracker under my car."

When Sofia began dating Justin Bieber in 2016, it was a media — specifically social media — frenzy. Jelena (Bieber and Selena Gomez's ship name) fans vilified Sofia online, posting snake emojis in the comment section on her Instagram simply for her relationship with the "Baby" hitmaker. She was put in the same position when Kardashian lovers couldn't fathom the idea that Scott Disick, the father of Kourtney Kardashian's first three kids, would date the young Richie in 2018. Her father likely trained her on dealing with media scorn, as she once told Cosmopolitan, "I just don't care what people think."

The chatter surrounding Sofia Richie's relationships has seemingly never cut deep, but talk of her identity is another story. As the child of a Black man, Lionel Richie, and a white woman, Diane Alexander, Sofia is biracial. However, her racial identity has sparked debate online, with many arguing that she shouldn't identify as a Black woman solely based on her ancestry. Others support her, opining that because she is half-Black, she should be able to claim her identity as a Black woman. Nonetheless, Sofia has made it clear in the media how she prefers to identify.

Sofia herself has commented on the seemingly popular topic, confirming that she does indeed identify as Black, to correct those who have made remarks about it and enlighten those who simply never knew. "I'm very light, so some people don't really know that I'm black [sic]," she told Complex in 2016. Sofia noted that because she is white-presenting, some people won't recognize that she is Black and will make an inappropriate comment in front of her. "I've been in situations where people will say something kind of racist, and I'll step in, and they'll be like, 'Oh, well, you're light.' That still doesn't cut it, buddy. It's 2016—you better get your s**t together before you get slapped out here."

Sofia Richie's foray into the Hollywood dating scene was nothing short of tumultuous. Beyond the social media intrusion on her relationships with Justin Bieber and Scott Disick, the latter boyfriend was seemingly a major source of their complications as a couple. Their initial breakup in 2018 was reportedly the consequence of Disick's infidelity. The "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" star was seen with another woman at a Kanye West party, which prompted Sofia to dump him, a source said at the time (via Daily Mail) "She couldn't take it anymore," they said. "Scott has been off the rails recently and is not in a good place... It's just very toxic behavior. It's very up and down."

They mended their relationship in 2018, before breaking things off for good in 2020 — but not before more chaos ensued. While quarantining together during the COVID-19 lockdown, Sofia became increasingly worried about Disick, per a source who spoke to E! News at the time. The father of three, who has a history of substance abuse, was reportedly "spiraling" in isolation, prompting Sofia to seek help from his ex, Kourtney Kardashian. They both pushed him to enter rehab. According to Disick, it was his close relationship with Kardashian that became the final nail in the coffin for Sofia. "She was like, 'I don't want to share you as a boyfriend with Kourtney,'" he revealed on "KUWTK" (via Entertainment Tonight). "And then she literally said with an ultimatum: 'You have to choose me or Kourtney.'" He ultimately chose Kardashian, citing their kids as his main priority.

Fortunately, after years spent in chaotic relationships, Sofia Richie found her soulmate. The fashion and beauty personality exchanged vows with her now-husband, Elliot Grainge, in 2023. The couple became first-time parents in 2024 when they welcomed their daughter, Eloise, in May of that year. She had a quiet luxury approach to her pregnancy, even calling it "9 months of bliss" on Instagram. But based on what she has said in interviews, there were still moments of terror. "I had a great pregnancy up until about 32 weeks," Sofia said on the "SHE MD" podcast. Due to a few odd symptoms, she was advised to see a fetal specialist, who confirmed that she was in preterm labor, which can happen between the 20-week and 37-week mark, per the Mayo Clinic. "I was really terrified," Sofia, who was admitted into the hospital for a six-night stay, recalled.

That was only the beginning of what was a harrowing final term. For six weeks, Sofia was bedridden and contracting. "It was emotionally draining," said Sofia. Though giving birth at 38 weeks was a breeze in comparison to the previous month and a half, she didn't have such luck in her postpartum journey. "I went home and I blew up like a balloon," she said. Her doctor sent a nurse to Sofia's house and discovered that her blood pressure was abnormally high. The podcast's co-host, Dr. Thais Aliabadi, described what she was experiencing as postpartum preeclampsia. Sofia said she was once again admitted into the hospital, adding: "The hardest thing I have ever had to do, I think, was literally leave my daughter two days postpartum."

Aside from the distressing start to motherhood, Sofia Richie seems to be thriving with her family of three. Of course, all good things must be ruined by social media trolls — that's the saying, right? In 2025, rumors began spreading that Elliot Grainge had been unfaithful to his wife, with some alleging that Sofia even knew about his infidelity and didn't care, as long as she maintained a lavish life. The truth about Sofia and Grainge is that they don't care what their detractors are whispering about. In fact, they find the humor in it.

In a June 2025 TikTok video, Sofia recorded Grainge reading off a series of speculative comments about his alleged affair. "She already secured the baby. Sofia has a rich dad as well; she should divorce him and take his child support money," Grainge read aloud, as his wife laughed on camera. He also read: "That? Cheating on her?" After both agreeing that the comment was "mean," he said, "What am I? Shrek?" Sofia's tongue-in-cheek caption on the video read: "I had to break it to my husband that he is not the people's princess." The couple is evidently taking the gossip well and addressing it head-on with dismissive laughs.