Nicole Richie and Joel Madden have been together for nearly a decade and have regularly been accused of splitting. In May fresh reports from both Life & Style and InTouch Weekly insisted the 33-year-old fashion designer and the 36-year-old rocker were close to calling divorce lawyers. But on Tuesday her father Lionel Richie slammed the talk. 'It's completely untrue,' the 65-year-old All Night Long hit maker told Hello! magazine. The weeklies argued that Nicole and Joel - who have daughter Harlow, aged seven, and son Sparrow, aged five - have 'been leading separate lives for months' and often vacation apart.Two weekly magazines accused the couple in May of being close to a splitLionel, 65, said he talked to Nicole recently and she insisted all was fineNicole, 33, and Joel, 36, have been together for almost a decade
'_ is never around,' a source told Life & Style.