Nicole Richie sana-says why a Simple Life reboot won't happen

Joey Nolfi
·3 min read

It appears that the sun has set — for good — on "sanasa."

Before Nicole Richie was satirizing pretentious Los Angeles lifestyles as a budding trap icon (whose rhymes champion clean water and sustainable eating) on her new Quibi series Nikki Fre$h, the early-aughts icon leaned into her superficial side next to Paris Hilton on five seasons of the Fox reality series The Simple Life. While fans have patiently awaited a reboot since the show's cancellation 13 years ago, Richie recently told EW why the program — which followed Richie and Hilton as they left their posh L.A. bubble to live with small-town families around the country and perform labor-intensive jobs like milking cows, working in a bakery, and spectacularly failing at running a fast food joint — won't be coming back.

"That show was what it was, and it was so much fun," the 38-year-old said during an interview promoting Nikki Fre$h. "But that concept wouldn't even work in this moment because, remember, we'd leave our lives for a month, and we didn't have any phones. No phones in this day and age just doesn't work!"

Richie also said her and Hilton's personal growth and maturation since The Simple Life might get in the way of keeping the format as compelling as it was back in 2003.

"We're almost 40 years old, and I can't imagine leaving my kids. We've got real jobs now," Richie said. "We were 20 or 21 when we did it. It was like backpacking through Europe: something you do in your twenties. If I could say something to my younger self, I'd be like, 'Do it, because when else are you going to be able to go and do that?' That's what your twenties are for!"

Though a Simple Life revival isn't in the works, fan excitement peaked last summer when a Twitter account with the handle @TheSimpleLife tweeted an old photo of Hilton and former frenemy Lindsay Lohan with the caption "keep your friends close, and your enemies closer." That led fans to assume a new iteration was imminent — until Hilton got involved.

"FYI, Someone has made a fake fan account & invented this #TheSimpleLife rumor," the 39-year-old socialiate, businesswoman, and recording artist tweeted. "There is no truth to it. Yes, I love that show & I was approached again to do it. But I had to say no as I have an extremely busy work schedule traveling the world running my empire."

Thankfully, even without a reboot, we'll always have the season 1 image of Richie shoving her hand up a cow's butt to cherish as a beloved keepsake.

The Simple Life is now streaming on Amazon Prime, while Nikki Fre$h currently airs new episodes daily on Quibi. Read EW's full Q&A with Richie here.

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