Simply Sliving!

TWO DECADES AFTER BECOMING REALITY TV ICONS, THE FOREVER FRIENDS ARE ONCE AGAIN SLAYING AND LIVING IT UP WITH THE ENCORE

- DORY JACKSON

When Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie agreed to reunite onscreen, they knew a traditional sit-down reunion wouldn't do. “We wanted to throw ourselves into a world that we are completely unfamiliar with as a nod to The Simple Life,” says Richie, referring to their reality TV megahit, which ran from 2003 to 2007 and began with the Los Angele-nos heading to Arkansas to live on a farm and try their hands at blue-collar work.

In their new Peacock series Paris & Nicole: The Encore, the pair, both 43-year-old moms of two, go far outside their comfort zones by staging an opera based on the nonsensical song “Sanasa,” which they made up as childhood friends. Despite a brief falling-out that Hilton later blamed on people “trying to play us against each other,” the two have been “sliving”—a portmanteau of “slaying” and “living” that Hilton coined—their best lives since the show turned them into stars. Here they discuss their full circle.

What was the best part of reuniting onscreen?

NICOLE RICHIE When I was getting up and getting ready, I didn't know what the day was going to bring, but I was just so excited to be able to get in the car [and] go shoot with Paris. I knew that we were going to have a good time. I knew we were going to laugh, and it really made my summer.

PARIS HILTON It was so much fun going on this adventure together again and visiting the family that we stayed with [in Arkansas]. It was really great just to go back and see how much we touched that little town and how much it meant to them. It was cool to feel that energy.

Was the task of creating an opera daunting?