In recent weeks the rag mags and bloggers have been speculating that emaciated socialite Nicole Richie is with child. The recovering heroine addict and anorexic tabloid favorite has been seen shopping for baby clothes, avoiding cigarettes, and even staying off the strip. But could this be a result of a pregnancy or just your average lack of protein?

Medically when the body is deprived of protein it becomes bloated, almost fat due to retention of water. As we see in photos form starving third world countries it is a common occurrence when the body suffers from a deficiency or lack of proper nutrition. But this is a Hollywood famine, starving in the finest of all restaurants while stowing a pharmacy away in your Balenciaga. In a world where every 3.6 seconds someone dies of hunger, we worship a culture of excess, fast food, binges and purges. Some children would even call Richie their idol; magazines promote her look as improved then attack her for being too skinny days later. Although anorexia is a disease it seems somehow unfair that the entire world is starving while America is on a crash diet.

In the fall of 2003 Nicole was arrested for Heroin possession and was sentenced to rehab. She claims that she has always been thin but gained weight while in the facility which would explain her appearance on The Simple Life shortly after. Over a period of three years Richie went from a healthy girl to a woman in the body of a child at 5’2’’ weighting just under 90lbs.

It was just a year ago that a 22 year old Brazilian model died on the runway, the horrific image of her collapse was a wake up call to the entertainment industry, what we consider fashionable could actually be a surefire death wish. Images of Nicole Richie running on the beach in a tiny blue bikini made the cover of magazines around the world, her bones poking through her hanging skin, it was so alarming people believed it to be photoshopped, contrived, and unreal. While some anorexics hide behind baggy clothes Nicole stripped down for photo ops, was this just a fashion statement, or a blatant cry for help?

Richie’s charismatic personality and undisputable humor made The Simple Life a hit show, distracting us from the conversational void of Paris Hilton, Nicole was more than just a sidekick she was in fact the entertainment. With the media monitoring her weight gains and losses it can’t be easy to maintain a healthy body image, it’s hard enough just flipping through the pages much less seeing yourself beside the unflattering blurbs.

The world can exhale, Paris Hilton is free. But it is Richie who will be up at bat next to battle her very own DUI case and may be the next to inhabit Paris’ old Lynwood stomping grounds. She will be battling her December arrest in which she was found driving the wrong way on an LA freeway in her 2005 Mercedes, volunteering information to officers Nicole confessed that she had taken vicodin and smoked marijuana leaving her disoriented before the incident. A dangerous and life threatening move, much worse in my opinion than Paris Hilton driving the correct way down Sunset after a few drinks, only time will tell if Nicole will also be made into an example like her pal. If her an boyfriend Joel Madden truly are expecting will her unborn child also serve as her get out of jail free card?

This season’s The Simple Life received little promotion. With Paris behind bars and Nicole awaiting trial it seems that even bad press is good press if you are a Hollywood socialite. If reports are true one can only hope that Nicole, pregnant or not will finally learn take care of herself not only for her child’s sake but for her own. Keep your fingers crossed and look forward to the plethora of future reality show possibilities; just think “The Simple Life: Motherhood”.