Prince gave Nicole Richie a dog named 'God'

Nicole Richie may have had a slew of exotic pets in her life from various celebrity friends, but received a very special dog from musical icon, Prince.

"Prince got me my first dog," she told Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show Tuesday. "I remember because the dog's name was God. I did not name the dog, obviously."

Understanding Prince's genius was difficult even before the eccentric musician died in 2016, but it's possible the dog's name was a reference to his track "God," which is sometimes how "Love Theme from Purple Rain" is described in reissues of Prince's legendary album Purple Rain.

Prince's love for animals was especially apparent after he died in 2016 when his beloved doves Majesty and Divinity went silent, his sister Tyka Nelson told Today in 2016.

“After he passed, they weren’t talking. It didn’t feel the same… So when I first came in [to Paisley Park after Prince’s death], I was like, ‘Where’s the doves? What’s going on?’ [His staff] said, ‘They’re up there. They’re just not talking.’ I said, ‘Well you need to play some Prince music.’”

Music and animals went hand in hand for both Prince and Nicole. After Prince gifted Nicole her first dog God, she went on to adopt other animals and tried to inspire her family to embrace her love of animals.

However, Nicole's daughter didn't immediately share her passion after she and husband Joel Madden adopted their first family dog. In a 2021 episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, she recalled the kids' reactions to the German Shepherd named Ero they had adopted.

"He's a great dog. I've only had him about a week but he's so sweet," she told Ellen DeGeneres. "He's really Joel's dog. I actually told Joel, 'I don't want to pick up after any thing ever again. I've got my kids so I'm going to let you do that.' It's his dog, but I like to, you know, snuggle. I like to hug him and kiss him."

Her son Sparrow "was really excited" to welcome the new family addition, but daughter Harlow expressed that she "did not want a dog,"

"She's very delicate," Nicole said of her daughter. "She doesn't like anything disturbing her space. Delicate would be the best way to put it."

The family seems to have since fully embraced Nicole's love of animals. She's added chickens, another German Shepherd and even a bearded dragon – a love that possibly started with God.

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