Nicole Richie
Gossip

Here's some celebrity news we definitely maybe saw coming a mile away.

Nicole Richie is pregnant.

Yes, it's true. The pregnancy rumors have been swirling for weeks, but many believed the "bump" Nicole Richie has sported to be merely a sign of malnutrition.

Not that one could be blamed for assuming that. Nicole Richie hates food.

But as of this afternoon, the gossip sleuths at TMZ have officially confirmed that Richie is pregnant.

The starlet has been dating Good Charlotte frontman Joel Madden for over six months. Rumors have been running rampant on the Internets for months that Richie and Madden are expecting, but TMZ confirmed through multiple sources that she is, in fact, pregnant.

Congratulations! And gross!

In Touch is reporting that the couple will tie the knot this summer. Meanwhile, Nicole Richie is currently facing DUI charges stemming from her arrest last December.

The Simple Life "star" was found driving the wrong way on the freeway while on Vicodin and pot. She weighed 85 pounds at the time, and may have lost 5-10 since.

Pregnant or not, Nicole Richie will go on trial July 11. If convicted, she faces jail time. Will the poor baby inside her womb get her off the hook? Who knows.

One thing's for sure, though: Britney Spears must be psyched about this news: in nine months, she won't be the worst celebrity mother in town.

Nicole Richie is definitely possibly pregnant.

But is she also about ready to walk down the aisle?

Sources tell 24Sizzler.com that Richie may wed Joel Madden - her rocker beau - as early as next month. Yes, Joel is reportedly making an honest anorexic out of her.

"[Nicole Richie] has been shopping around for a wedding dress," a loose-lipped informant reveals. "She's calling around looking for a dress, and asking stylists for help."

She doesn't have a dress yet? What the hell else does Nicole Richie have to do with her time? Certainly not eat or work. This story smells worse than K-Fed.

When would the wedding be, were there to be a wedding? Today and tomorrow, Joel Madden and Good Charlotte are performing in Quebec, then they have another date in Canada July 10.

But the tour doesn't pick up again until early August, when Good Charlotte tours with Justin Timberlake. July wedding, anyone? Count us in!

As long as they serve weed and Vicodin as wedding favors, of course.

Her friend, that dirty slut Paris Hilton, sits in jail.

Now the skinny Nicole Richie is inching closer to learning her own fate.

The Simple Life star, who was arrested for DUI in December, was ordered today by a Los Angeles Superior Court to stand trial on July 11.

Nicole Richie, 25, could face up to a year behind bars. Which would suck.

For her. Not for this celebrity gossip site. We would laugh pretty damn hard.

Of course, that could all change if Nicole Richie is pregnant. Or so she thinks. Maybe. Too bad Tom Sizemore can't work that angle... cry as he may.

Los Angeles District Attorney spokeswoman Jane Robison tells Us Weekly that Richie's trial is forthcoming and that the dilly-dallying is over.

"Commissioner Steven Lubell did not want any more delays. The trial is now set for July 11. It must happen within 10 days of that date or Richie must enter a plea," she said.

Shawn Chapman Holley, the lawyer for Nicole Richie, who has requested that the trial be postponed five times, downplayed today's court order.

"Judges are under orders to get things moving," he said.

"Nothing extraordinary happened today at all. The case had been set for trial on the 25th and I'm going on vacation on the 28th. He said no further continuances without good cause. He vacated the trial and set a new date."

When asked if the anorexic waif, who's scared of jail, is considering any kind of plea agreement in lieu of trial, Holley added: "Just because it is set for trial that does not mean we are going to trial. We are still discussing things and looking at the case."

Move over, Kate Walsh. We know your fiance is rubbing your belly, but we've got much smaller, more anemic fish to fry in the celebrity pregnancy rumor department.

Here Nicole Richie is, glowing and possibly growing, and hiding her face behind some sort of doggy bag, during a recent trip for some sushi.

It appears that unless she's suddenly developed a hankering for cheap domestic beer, someone got Nicole Richie pregnant. Check out that beer gut and/or baby bump!

The countdown continues to the shocking, tearful announcement that Miss Nicole Richie is pregnant, possibly engaged to Joel Madden, OMG like real sorry for that DUI, and does not wish to replace Paris Hilton in the slammer.

We don't know what's more frightening... that a fossil like Hugh Hefner can bed Playboy models like Holly Madison (and that his boys can still swim), or that someone in his right mind would actually give Nicole Richie the hot beef injection.

Let's just hope he was giving it to her wheelbarrow style. Rumor has it that it's easier to knock someone up that way. Gravity is on your side!

One look at Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen makes it apparent these skeletons are far from powerful.

Nevertheless, they had been included on 2006's Forbes list of the 100 most powerful celebrities. This year, though? Not so much. We always said the pair should eat more.

Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie also fell off the 2007 list, thanks to waning interest in their reality series The Simple Life. And their lack of talent, perhaps.

Meanwhile, Oprah Winfrey, who consistently cracks the top 10 with earnings of $260 million a year, came in first place this year.

While compiling the list, Forbes considers income, while also taking into account factors such as media interest and the number of friends on stars' MySpace pages (in which case, Tila Tequila should rank first; she has over one million).

Lindsay Lohan was on the list for two years, but dropped off in 2006. Britney Spears, who was ranked No. 1 in 2002, bowed out the following year and hasn't been back since.

Big-time actors cleaned up this year, with Pirates of the Caribbean star Johnny Depp, who earned $92 million last year, coming in at No. 6. and The Da Vinci Code's Tom Hanks jumping from No. 31 to No. 11.

Brad Pitt finally made it into the top 10 for the first time with a No. 5 ranking.

In other news: child stars are fast on the heels of their adult contemporaries. Harry Potter stars Daniel Radcliffe (No. 79) and Emma Watson (No. 97) join the list for the first time, along with Dakota Fanning (No. 94).

"We're seeing young kids bringing in adult salaries," Goldman says.

Along those lines, look for Suri Cruise to make the list in 2008.

Is Nicole Richie pregnant?

The Simple Life "star" is being coy on the question of whether she's got a bun in that emaciated, anorexic oven, but a good pal of hers says she's definitely carrying the spawn of Joel Madden.

That friend must not be that good a pal. Otherwise she wouldn't make up stories and leak them to the tabloids. This informant is making Heidi Montag look like BFF of the year!

In any event, what does the supposed Richie confidant say is the underlying motivation - or at least the best possible side effect - of Nicole getting Knocked Up harder than Katherine Heigl in this summer's hit movie?

"[Nicole Richie] is kind of hoping her pregnancy will keep her out of jail," the friend said.

Surprising that spoiled jailbird Paris Hilton never considered getting preggers via Stavros Niarchos and claiming that as her defense.

Richie is facing time due to a DUI arrest late last year. But friends are concerned and "wondering if she can carry the baby to term because of her weight issues," we're told.

Now that part of this supposed news is certainly believable. Just look at some of these Nicole Richie photos. Hunger. It's not just for third world refugees anymore.

Okay, so it's a relative thing... but there's no escaping the fact that Nicole Richie looks sort of, almost, kinda like a human being. You know, rather than the skeletal remains we're used to.

Photoshop and bad lighting sure can do remarkable things.

The directionally-challenged, drugged-up motorist was spotted Tuesday with beau Joel Madden while leaving the posh Kate Somerville spa in Beverly Hills.

Aside from the somewhat alien-like protrusion coming out of her left wrist, she looked the picture of health. Well sort of. Step in the right direction at least.

You go, spa! Nice work! Someone send Britney Spears there... it's not like she has anything to do, like work on a career or raise two little kids or something.

Joel Madden, on the other hand, not quite as lovely as the skinny Richie. The Good Charlotte frontman was his signature unshaven self with some splotchy red patches and what appears to be a tattoo (or maybe a hickey... oooh) behind his ear.

Come to think of it, most people look healthy standing next to a rocker who does everything he can to look trashy. Which works for his act, don't get us wrong. Just saying.

Jennifer Meyer could stand next to him and look hot.

Her friend, Paris Hilton, is scared in jail, where she was banished following a DUI bust and then driving with a suspended license.

Nicole Richie is scared of the same fate.

"I'm just keeping my fingers crossed," she told David Letterman on The Late Show Wednesday.

"Of course, I'm scared also, but, you know, I'm willing to face whatever consequences come my way, and I take responsibility for what I've done."

The star of The Simple Life, 25, pleaded not guilty in February to driving under the influence on December 11.

Officers had stopped her after she was spotted driving the wrong way on an L.A. freeway, and police said she'd admitted to smoking marijuana and taking Vicodin.

Because of a prior DUI conviction in June 2003, by California law, Richie faces mandatory jail time (90 days to one year) if convicted of a second DUI within 10 years.

Letterman asked Nicole Richie when she would eat learn her fate.

"Probably the end of this month," she said.

"I hope you don't have to go to jail," Dave added helpfully.

At least 50 percent of our celebrity gossip department disagrees.

Richie co-stars in The Simple Life with Hilton, who's doing time at the Century Regional Detention Facility in L.A. for violating her probation by driving with a suspended license.

Paris Hilton had been on probation after pleading no contest to reckless driving in a September, 2006 drunken driving case.

Richie told Ryan Seacrest on his radio show last month that she thought the way Hilton was treated by the court was "unfair" and said, "I can only hope that that doesn't happen to me, but I don't think that there's anything that I personally can do about that. The only thing that I can do is show up and fight my case."

We recommend some nutrients before fighting anything, Nicole. Otherwise, your brittle frame and tiny, ineffectual fists just aren't going to be all that imposing.

This Photo Finish was too easy. They're BFFs. They both starred on the reality TV hit, The Simple Life. They're both exponentially overhyped and marginally talented. At best.

And they've both posed for sexy mug shots in the recent past.

All celebrity mug shots are appreciated by our celebrity gossip staffers, but these two are personal favorites. Here are the booking photos of Paris Hilton (left), and Nicole Richie...

Which celebrity mug shot is more hottttttt?

As for the incarcerated Hilton, we're obliged to update you on her status in the slammer. Supposedly, she was the cause of a small riot after got "hazed" in the shower by a couple of inmates who let her have it after she dropped the soap.

Just kidding! All is well for Paris Hilton in jail. A day or so into her 23-day term, officials are calling her a "model citizen" - gracious, thankful and polite to staff.

She's wearing a short-sleeved, orange jumpsuit. She still has on the makeup she was wearing when she turned herself in. Her hair is down. Extensions on inmates' hair, normally not allowed, are okay in her case because they're "tightly wound." In case you were wondering.

She's not interacting with any of the inmates, at least not yet, but she's seeing them through glass. She's not happy, but resigned to doing time and getting it over with. She's not scared, and she's not teary-eyed. Just quiet and reserved.

As for her cell - it's 12x8 feet, with a bunk bed, a toilet and wash basin. There are windows - a little one in the door, and one on the wall that overlooks buildings.

Yeah, if there's one thing we learned from Office Space, it's that minimum security prison is no picnic. But we think the HO-tel heiress can stomach 21 more days.

Nicole Richie is not hot. Not even close. If you wish to argue this point, take a look at this Nicole Richie photo. Game over. We win. The Hollywood Gossip 1, You 0.

Heck, the skinny celebrity as far from smokin' as a girl can get. That said, Joel Madden can at least take comfort in the fact that she can set his car on fire…

PHOTO CREDIT: JFX Images / TMZ

Okay, maybe that's a bit of a stretch on our part. But there's no disputing that trouble once again managed to find Nicole Richie behind the wheel.

At least she wasn't driving while high, or in the wrong direction on this particular occasion. Stil, the vehicularly-challenged "star" managed to overheat her rock star boyfriend's BMW 745 in Beverly Hills.

This happened just hours before the cops nailed Miss Richie with a parking ticket for leaving her car in a loading zone while she got her hair done.

Maybe it's time to take away the keys. While we're at it, let's make sure Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and Mischa Barton never drive again as well.

The streets of snooty neighborhoods in Southern California will be forever safer if such aggressive public wellness measures are enacted.