In late April 2023, Lionel Richie walked his daughter, Sofia Richie, down the aisle to her partner Elliot Grainge. “My little girl is all grown up and starting her own journey with the love of her life,” Lionel wrote on Instagram. “You’ll always be my little bird, but I’m so proud of the woman you’ve become.”
Sofia Richie was born to a Black father and a Caucasian mother
Sofia Richie was born on 24th August 1998 to Lionel Richie and Diane Alexander. She is mixed race, with Black and Caucasian ethnicity.
Sofia doesn’t look black and can easily pass as white. In December 2016, she told Complex that people often assume she’s white. Some even make racist comments around her, oblivious to her heritage.
“I’m very light, so some people don’t really know that I’m black,” Sofia told Complex. “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.’”
Sofia, then an 18-year-old, told the outlet that she admonishes the unsuspecting racists. “That still doesn’t cut it,buddy,” she says. “It’s 2016, you better get your shit together before you get slapped out here.”