Entertainment

Is Christina Ricci Related To Lionel Richie? The Truth Here

By David | Updated on December 28, 2022
Facts reviewed by Editor at Celebrity Digest
Table of Contents

    Christina Ricci, an actress from Santa Monica California who is famous for her role of Wednesday in The Addams Family among others, is one such celebrity who has several lookalikes or whose name happens to resemble the name of other celebrities. In fact, Ricci has also been alleged to have some mutual DNA with several other celebrities.

    Two names have occurred quite frequently, the Sail On singer Lionel Richie and some late Italian-born French designer, Nina Richie. However, both names sound too surreal to have any connection to Christina.

    Read further to know if Christina is really related to Lionel and Nina. En route also know what her true lineage is; whether the actress is really Italian or she has some other ethnic background.

    Is Christina Ricci Related To Singer Lionel Richie?

    The Addams Family actress Christina Ricci has long been rumored to have some family tie with the singer and composer, Lionel Richie.  The truth, however, seems as implausible as it sounds.

    R and B vocalist, Lionel Richie
    Alabama-born songwriter, and composer, Lionel Richie. Discogs

    Lionel, despite, having an eerily similar last name to Christina’s, doesn’t look related to Christina Ricci. While Ricci has ethnicities including Irish, Italian, Scottish, and English, Ritchie reportedly is a descent of African American, with small amounts of English, Scottish, and French Canadian. Lionel however is mainly African American as opposed to Christina who has admitted to being a descent of Scotts Irish and only a bit of Italian.

    Lionel isn’t the only Richie that people mistake for Christina’s relatives. The internet has also often times wondered if the actress is related to Lionel’s daughters, Nicole Richie and Sofia Richie. However, Christina yet again has no blood or family connection to either of Lionel’s daughters.

    Singer Lionel Richie's daughters, Sophia Richie and Nicole Richie
    Singer Lionel Richie’s daughters, Sophia Richie and Nicole Richie. Instagram

    While they aren’t family, Nicole did once dress up as one of the characters from the Christina Ricci-led movie, Addams Family for Halloween. However, Lionel’s daughters donned the avatar of Morticia Addams (the mother of Ricci’s Addams family character, Wednesday).

    Is Christina Ricci Related To Nina Ricci?

    Nina Ricci was the late actress native of Turin, Italy. Nina, who was born on 14 January 1883, was also a costume designer. She worked for films including The Visit (1964), Le père de Mademoiselle (1953), and The Magnificent Cuckold (1964).

    Although Christina and Nina do have the same surname, there is sod all evidence to suggest the two are related or have any ancestral connection. Furthermore, Ricci isn’t the maiden name of Nina. She adopted it presumably after her marriage to Luigi Ricci.

    French fashion designer of Italian origin Maria Nina Ricci
    The late Italian-born French designer, Maria Nina Ricci

    The only logical dots that can put them under the same bracket is that their ancestry roots back to the same country. However, there’s more to it.

    The Real Ethnicity Of Christina & Her Ancestry

    While Christina’s last name does appear Italian, the actress has said the ethnicity has been bred out of her. According to the Monster actress, the Italian connection to her family started diminishing four or five generations ago. As such the last remaining Italian ancestor of hers married an Irish woman and the couple had children but they were all sons. However, most of them would also go on to marry more Irish women which, Christina says, gradually reduced the Italian roots from her lineage. The Penelope actress, therefore, says she is basically Scots-Irish.

    The Real Relatives of Christina Ricci

    Christina has two parents and four siblings with whom she has a blood connection. First, Ricci is the daughter of Sarah (nee Murdoch) and Ralph Ricci. The Casper actress’s mother, Sarah used to work as a Ford Agency model during the 1960s. She later however became a real estate agent. Ricci’s father, too, went through multiple professions. He handled jobs including gym teacher, lawyer, drug counselor, and primal scream therapist.

    The Addams Family actress Christina Ricci at the premiere of Wednesday in LA
    Christina Ricci at the premiere of Netflix Wednesday in LA. Getty

    Christina’s parents ended their marriage when the actress was about to become a teenager. Ricci has often talked about her parents’ separation. She has also opened up about her turbulent relationship with her father. The Pumpkin actress, in the past, said that her dad, a psychiatrist, was a difficult and unbending man. He reportedly was also sensitive to the point of paranoia. In an interview with the Guardian in Nov 2011, Ricci said she had no connection to her father at all.

    Ricci also has four siblings. The actress is the youngest. Her siblings are Rafael (b.1971), Dante (1971), and Pia (1976). Worth mentioning is Ricci apparently jumped into acting partly to entertain her siblings. Christina had appeared in the school play and one of the other parents that attended the show suggested to Ricci’s mother that she might have a career in TV and even films.

    After that, her brothers and sisters bullied their mother into letting her make the decision. According to Christina, her siblings were really amped up back then which motivated her more to enter into the performing business, at the time just to see her siblings laugh.

    Also Read: All You Need To Know About Jessalynn Siwa: The Mother Of Ex-Dance Moms Star, Jojo Siwa

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