Lionel Richie wished daughter Sofia would experience 'lots of failure' when she was young

Singer says his children face more pressure coming from a famous family

Lionel Richie shares the advice he gave daughter Sofia about show business (Getty)

Lionel Richie has revealed he wished “failure” on his daughter Sofia’s show business career early on in the hopes that she would learn and grow from the experience.

The father-of-three shared the career advice he gave to the 21-year-old when she first showed interest in following in his footsteps during an American Idol event on Wednesday.

“I told her: ‘I wish you lots of failure, young,” Richie told reporters, according to People. “We’re in a business where it’s how you recover and ‘yes, yes, yes’ does not feel terrible, so you have to get smacked in the face.”

The Grammy-winning singer added: “I said: ‘You’re going to have a little bit more of a different time because you’re coming from a family where they expect a little bit more.”

According to Richie, who is also the father to Nicole Richie, 38, and Miles Brockman Richie, 25, his youngest daughter wasn’t his only child to experience the pressures that come with having a famous musician for a father.

Recalling a time when Nicole was set to give a performance at a talent show, Richie said: “When Nicole was about four years old, she went on a talent show. She’s about to go on to do her little act and they said: ‘And now we have Lionel Richie’s daughter’ and she froze.

“She said: ‘Dad I don’t want to be here.’”

Despite wishing Sofia, a model, failure in her show business career early on, the All Night Long singer is confident that she has the “attitude” to make it in the industry, explaining that she “sings too” and he’s “so excited about her”.

As for the advice Richie wants all of his children to follow, it’s “do your best, give them attitude and kill it”.

“They’re all taking chances and I want them to do it now,” the 70-year-old said.