Nicole Richie Reveals Her Early Email Address While Reminiscing with Paris Hilton About Their Favorite 2000s Accessory

The reality stars and good pals bring back the early 2000s favorites in a W Magazine TikTok

Nicole Richie at the T-Mobile Limited Edition Sidekick II Launch - Red Carpet at T-Mobile Sidekick II City in Los Angeles, California Paris Hilton during 33rd Annual American Music Awards - Backstage at Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California, United States.
Nicole Richie, Paris Hilton carrying Sidekicks. Photo:

Chris Polk/FilmMagic; Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

There are few things that invoke memories of the early 2000s like throwbacks to Nicole Richie and Paris Hilton’s iconic friendship. The celebrity besties and Simple Life stars were inseparable from each other ... and, as they recalled in a TikTok for W Magazine, inseparable from their Sidekick cell phones.

In a clip from W's “Explore ASMR” series on YouTube, Hilton and Richie reflect on their decades-long friendship and their mutual love of the T-Mobile cell phone that was a defining piece of the era.

“I do remember that we were one of the first people to have these because we were friends with — I’m forgetting his name, but he was my best friend,” Richie whispers into the microphone, holding up one of the handheld devices.

The Sidekick was unique in that the screen spun horizontally to display a full keyboard, giving the same satisfaction of a flip phone with a keyboard that was easier to type on. It included various messaging apps and games, too.

Nicole Richie arrives at the T-Mobile Sidekick II Launch Party held at the Grove on August 4, 2004 in Hollywood, California.
Nicole Richie with a Sidekick in 2004.

Frazer Harrison/Getty

Richie and Hilton weren’t the only celebrities obsessed with the innovative phone; Lindsay Lohan, Travis Barker and Kim Kardashian were also frequently photographed with their Sidekicks in hand on the red carpet or out and about.

“Honestly these keyboards are probably easier than the keyboards now,” Richie reminisced.

In the clip, Richie shared that her very first Sidekick name was [email protected].

“It was very cool to have a Sidekick, and we used to just live on them,” she continued. “We would go to the T-Mobile parties and we would be pumped to get a new Sidekick.”

“They used to have the best parties,” Hilton chimed in. (“We still throw the best parties,” T-Mobile commented on the TikTok post.)

Hilton and Richie’s Sidekicks seemed to change out every so often, as exemplified by the different colorful bedazzling each new iteration was decked out with. 

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“I would paint mine with Hard Candy nail polish and like glitter mine up,” Richie said. 

Though Hilton admitted she was unsure if the vibrant makeup brand that earmarked the early 2000s was still around, the clip drew attention from the cosmetic brand. Thanks to a comment from the official Hard Candy TikTok account, it’s confirmed the brand’s products (colorful nail polishes topped with plastic rings) are still available to purchase at Walmart.

The first Sidekick phone debuted in 2002, with a color variation released the following year. T-Mobile attempted to revive the popular phone in 2018, though suspended sales in 2019.

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