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Joel Madden Talks Life With Nicole Richie, Says Family Is His “Guiding Light”

Nicole Richie and Joel Madden
Joel Madden spoke about his wife Nicole Richie

Family first! Years after Joel Madden got an early taste of fame with Good Charlotte and celebrated with "girls, drugs, [and] money," the rocker is now finding inspiration closer to home. 

"[My family is my] guiding light," Madden, 35, said in a new interview with Details. The singer has been married to wife Nicole Richie since December 2010, after dating for four years. They welcomed daughter Harlow in January 2008 and son Sparrow in September 2009.

Related: PHOTOS: Nicole Richie and Joel Madden's Most Romantic Moments

Both he and Richie, 32, balance their busy careers with their family life, as their children are their top priority. "Things are simplest when we're not involved in each other's work," Madden said of his fashion designer love. 

For that reason, he keeps himself a healthy distance away from Richie's projects, including her docuseries #CandidlyNicole — a choice Madden said he made consciously, and with the family.

Related: PHOTOS: Harlow Madden: Nicole Richie's Mini-Me!

"[There] are people who think we want to be in tabloids, like we're asking someone to surprise us with a camera," he told Details. "If I was only interested in people seeing me, I'd be on Nicole's show, and as a family we made a firm decision not to do that. The show is totally Nicole's thing. The family is our thing, and we protect it."

Madden's brother Benji Madden, who is the other half of their latest music venture The Madden Brothers and did the Details interview with him, is also a big part of his niece and nephew's lives. 

Related: PHOTOS: Nicole Richie: From Wild to Mild

"We're best friends," Joel said of his twin brother. "Benji even meets my son when he goes off to camp for the day."

Good Charlotte guitarist Benji added that a family is "what every man wants, whether they admit it or not." While he made some mistakes in his young adult years, he has recently settled down into a good relationship, dating actress Cameron Diaz

Related: PHOTOS: Nicole Richie's Boho-Chic Style

"I did relationship damage to myself in my twenties," Benji told Details. "That's what your twenties are for. You learn, and then you apply it in your thirties."

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