But her father Lionel, 66, didn't judge his daughter for her bad mistakes – he joined her through her recovery.
Talking to Piers Morgan during a new episode of Life Stories, the music legend recalled the heartbreaking phone call he received from his daughter crying out for help.
He said: "Nicole became a huge star herself in The Simple Life [TV show] with Paris Hilton. She fell off the rails and she got into drugs and the wrong kind of friends and was arrested for possession of heroin and went to rehab."
"That's a fairly cataclysmic thing for any father to have to watch his beautiful, young daughter go through."
Discussing a time after Nicole lost two of her friends to drugs, Lionel continued: "I got a phone call and she said, 'Dad I need help, I don't want to be the third one'. And I said, I am with you,' and I cancelled the tour.
"I said, 'Me and your mother', who didn't get along that well, 'Me and your mother are checking into rehab with you."
Nicole, now 33, managed to beat all of her demons and married musician Joel Madden. They are parents to daughters Harlow, seven, and five-year-old Sparrow.