Joel Madden begged Nicole Richie to date him

Los Angeles, April 20 (IANS) Singer Joel Madden says he had to beg his wife Nicole Richie to agree to date him when they first met.

Although the couple has now been married for over two years, Madden said the "Fashion Star" mentor was initially reluctant to go out with him, but agreed after he was persistent.

"I'm not for every woman, you know. Because a lot of women, I mean, obviously, your first thing is, 'What do you want your guy to look like?' And I'm not the tall, dark, handsome guy. But I think (you like me) once you get to know me, like how I got Richie," contactmusic.com quoted Madden as saying.

"When I first would see her around, we were friends. But I don't think I'm the obvious choice. I'm always like, 'Just give me a shot. Just give me one date.' If I can get my foot in the door," he said.

Madden, 34, who has children Harlow, four, and Sparrow, three, had earlier revealed he had proposed 10 times before Richie, 31, agreed to marry him.

"My wife is pretty good at rejecting me. People don't know this but I asked her to marry me ten times before she actually said yes. I was asking every other Tuesday," he said.

When asked what made that tenth one different, Joel replied: "I pulled out the kids. I said, 'Do you really wanna do this to these kids?' I'm just kidding. I'm passive aggressive."