LONDON: Pop star Lionel Richie flew into a panic at the news that his daughter Nicole was pregnant — as he believed it would spell an end to his sex appeal. The All Night Long star, 59, believed the birth of 14-month old Harlow, fathered by punk rocker Joel Madden, would signal his sex symbol status was over. Yet Richie now admits he enjoys life as a grandfather, albeit at a distance.

He tells British tabloid the Daily Record, “I went through a panic — that’s the end of my career. But I’m having more fun now with the responsibility of being a grandpa — that is, playing with the baby and handing her back.”