Lionel Richie shades Scott Disick as he speaks about daughter Sofia's relationship "It's just a phase!"

Lionel Richie has told his daughter Sofia that he doesn't even have an opinion on her dating ex-Kardashian Scott Disick – but that hasn't stopped him opening up about their relationship to the press, stating that he thinks it's "just a phase".

Speaking to The Telegraph, Lionel joked that Sofia, 19, is dating 34-year-old Scott to get back at him.

"I know what my parents meant when I came through the door with my Afro and my girlfriend and said, 'Dad, I'm in love' and [he] looked at me and said 'Okay, we're going to leave you alone for a minute and you'll figure it out,' " Lionel recalled.

"My daughter is getting me back for my Afro days!"

He continued: "When you're 19, you know everything. Is it going to be for life? I don't know. But for right now, it's just a phase and I'm going to stand real still in the corner, get me a good drink and not make too much noise."

Scott, who has three children with ex-girlfriend Kourtney Kardashian, was first linked to Sofia in May 2017 when they were pictured on a yacht in Cannes. They became Instagram official (because isn't that all that counts?) in September last year.

And while it might be a fairly new relationship, Scott has met the family – with Lionel saying: "From what I met of him, he's a very nice guy."

"When you hang around the reality world, who knows what you are really doing?" he added."This is a well-oiled machine, the Kardashian machine. I don't really know what to think. I told Sofia I will have no opinion. I'll continue to be my cheerful self and move on," he said.