Paris, Nicole Get New Lease on "Life"

Their friendship may be a thing of the past, but Life goes on for Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie.

After enjoying a major ratings boost courtesy of the fourth installment of the dueling duo's reality series, E! Entertainment Television has ordered another season of The Simple Life for 2007, the network announced Tuesday at the Television Critics Association press tour in Pasadena, California. (E! Online and E! Entertainment Television are divisions of E! Networks.)

"We are thrilled to bring Paris, Nicole and The Simple Life back for another season at their new home," E! President and CEO Ted Harbert said. "We saw a lot of potential in an E!/The Simple Life partnership when we acquired this huge comedy hit and the viewers have confirmed that we were right. Not only have 12 million people tuned in to catch the library, but viewers have poured in to check out the new season as well."

E! acquired the series last year, after it was dropped by Fox. Simple Life 4: 'Til Death Do Us Part, which debuted last month, features Hilton and Richie putting their own spin on domesticity--separately.

The former BFFs, whose falling out has been well-chronicled, filmed their scenes apart, perhaps to cut down on any real-life drama.

Hilton, at least, has fond memories from the days when she and Richie were a team, both on and offscreen.

"The other day I was looking back at old episodes from Simple Life 1 and...it made me almost cry to see how happy we are and how much fun we had," Hilton told E! Online in a recent interview. "

"You know we were like sisters, and now sheÂ?s just like a stranger when I see her. And it feels uncomfortable. Just a bad vibe and it sucks 'cause that's part of my life, and it's gone now."

Meanwhile, lest viewers be under the mistaken impression that what they see on the show is for real--it being a reality series by definition--Hilton was quick to clear up that misconception in a recent interview.

"Simple Life is a reality show and people might assume itÂ?s real. But it's fake," Hilton told London's The Sun. "All reality shows are fake basically. When you have a camera on you, you are not going to act like yourself."

Backing up her own theory, the hotel heiress turned recording artist revealed that the Paris Hilton she plays on TV is a character she created and nothing at all like the real Paris Hilton.

"Before I started the show I thought I'd make a character like the movies Legally Blonde and Clueless mixed together, with a rich girl all-in-one," she explained.

"Even my voice is different and the way I dress is different from me in real life. It's a character I like to play. I think it's carefree and happy. The public think they know me but they really don't."

They may not agree on much, but Richie shares Hilton's opinion that her Simple Life persona is not necessarily representative of her true personality.

"It's a character," Richie told TV Guide. "Paris plays the bombshell who doesn't know a lot of things, and I play the jokester. That's what the show's about."

Despite the well-publicized rift between the ex-friends, Richie has chosen to take the high road when it comes to discussing her relationship with Hilton.

"You have to understand that, regardless of Paris' announcement a year ago that we are no longer friends, we really haven't been friends in maybe three years," she told TV Guide. "We grew apart. It's that simple, in my eyes."

However, Richie said she has no problem maintaining a professional relationship with Hilton.

"I'm very used to working with somebody who I don't get along with," she said. "Work is work."

Good thing, because this is one job both Hilton and Richie are required to show up for--it's in their contracts.