Nicole Richie: Joel is inspired by arguments

Nicole Richie once "grooved" to her husband's new song - only to realise it was about one of their arguments.

The 31-year-old designer is married to Good Charlotte rocker Joel Madden and the couple have Harlow, five, and Sparrow, three, together.

Nicole often discovers that her spouse has used their relationship as inspiration for lyrics, which isn't always that flattering.

"Joel does write songs about me. This happens all the time, as he writes songs always. He comes to me once a month and says, 'I wrote the best song.' So I'm like great, and I'll be there grooving to the music and then I listen to the lyrics and they are like, 'Hope I never see you again,' and I'm like, 'Is this about me?'" she joked during an appearance on American talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live! "Well we are married so sometimes they are good and sometimes bad."

Nicole joked about one incident where she misinterpreted a track Joel had penned.

"If I like the song it's OK," she smiled. "I remember once, two weeks before we had our baby, he went out and bought a two-seater Bentley [car]. And wrote a song called, 'Can we please press rewind!'"

Nicole is the adopted daughter of legendary American singer-songwriter Lionel, but isn't a fan of seeing her dad perform live. In fact, she finds it traumatic to watch the All Night Long crooner belt out his hits.

"In my adult life I've seen him only once," she confessed. "I don't like it. My dad is always the most smiley person and he's always so happy. I used to always think he was faking it as he's so happy. Then, when he is on stage his smile gets bigger and wraps around his whole face!"