Nicole Richie is going to pop out baby Madden any day now - and she’s scared of giving birth.

Nicole Richie is terrified of childbirth. The closer she gets to her delivery date the more her anxiety she’s building up. She’s afraid of the pain and obsessing over all the bad things that might happen. To get a grip on herself she’s being treated by the same hypnotist who’s helped her in the past to give up smoking. This specialist has worked with a lot of Hollywood clients who need to deal with dieting or with assorted addictions, including drugs. He’s helping Nicole to relax and stay calm and think positive thoughts as the big day approaches.

Janet Charlton

Nicole Richie is terrified of giving birth, and I don’t think this is unreasonable at all. Next time you see a little newborn baby, which is tiny and cute sure, but not THAT tiny. Think about how big the baby is and then think about the size of the exit passage, then buy yourself a big pack of condoms. Someone should have told Jamie Lynn Spears about this.

Reports are circulating that Nicole Richie and baby daddy Joel Madden have moved in together in Los Angeles, preparing for the birth of their child. Which is really nice, for some reason I just really like this couple. They seem so normal, but waaay cooler than most people.

The wee baby the couple are expecting is a boy, as revealed by Nicole’s father Lionel. I actually think the kid will be a girl, and that Lionel Richie was just trying to throw us off the scent! Can we gamble this online somewhere?

I can’t wait for this baby to be born. Not because babies are cute, but because I’m betting Nicole will lose that baby weight in days. Two weeks tops. And then when Paris Hilton has a baby there will be a big contest to see if she can lose the weight faster. Sure, you might think this is stupid, but you have clearly never been in a room with a group of new mothers. They also compare birth stories. And nipples.

Picture note by Celebitchy: Nicole Richie and Joel Madden are shown at the launch of the Richie-Madden Children’s Foundation at Los Angeles Free Clinic in Hollywood on December 3rd. Thanks to WENN.

I don’t want to widely broadcast my naïveté, but I’m starting to be really impressed by Nicole Richie and Joel Madden. I have loudly proclaimed that she’s mean, immature, and likely incapable of any meaningful amount of change. And while I’m not ready to totally take that back yet, I have to say that Nicole (at least when combined with Joel) has consistently impressed me lately. I’m not sure if the two are employing an expert team of PR folk (and if so, give that team’s card to Britney Spears ASAP) or if Joel is just a really good person who wields a surprisingly large amount of influence of Richie. Perhaps he’s her much-needed Svengali. First they donated all of the presents from their baby shower to a local women’s clinic, then they served turkey dinners on Thanksgiving. Now the couple has thrown a Christmas party for L.A.-area homeless kids and their families. The two established a charity in their future baby’s honor called the Richie-Madden Children’s Foundation, and the party was their second big outreach (after donating the baby shower gifts) through the foundation.

More than 200 children and their family members enjoyed a “winter wonderland” on the Paramount Studios lot featuring teddy bears, cookies, cupcakes, face-painting, clowns, holiday music, Santa Claus and his elves. Children, selected from the L.A. homeless program Beyond Shelter, were able to choose from a teddy bear mountain of 500 “Cuddle Cub” stuffed bears.

“It was a no-brainer for us to pull this party together for them for the holidays,” Richie, who is pregnant with her first child, said.

“We want to do much more to address the homeless issue, especially where it puts children at risk. But for now, we can at least try to help them have a merry Christmas by giving them teddy bears and getting them fitted for shoes. That’s something we can do right now, today.”

[From US Weekly]

It might be PR spin. Probably. But it’s still really nice, so I’m going to assume it comes from a place of good. It’s not like it matters if Nicole has a good public image or anything. What’s the worst that could happen, it could hurt her career? What career? What does she do? She kind of half-ass participates in “The Simple Life” a few weeks a year, and that show isn’t based on her being a wholesome do-gooder. I’m guessing those maternal/pregnancy hormones have kicked in full-time. I wonder what her friends think of the “new” Nicole. Do you think Paris Hilton was by Nicole’s side, holding one of those metal foot measuring devices and plopping toddler’s feet on it, eyeballing for an exact fit? Well maybe if she could do it drunk. While getting paid to promote a product. Whatever the reasoning, it’s great to see a celebrity that started a charity and is actually doing something with it.

Picture note by Jaybird: Header of Joel and Nicole at the launch of the Richie-Madden Children’s Foundation at Los Angeles Free Clinic in Hollywood on December 3rd. Images thanks to WENN.

Uma Thurman is already a mother of two from her previous marriage to Ethan Hawke, and her boyfriend of a few months Arki Busson has two children with model Elle Macpherson, but are they planning on expanding their brood together?

Entertainment Wise points out that an otherwise fabulously toned Uma was sporting a little pot belly at the annual Nobel Concert in Norweay, which she hosted.

The dress kind of looks like it’s bunched up around the middle, like maybe when it was first purchased it fit better?

Uma recently admitted that her ex-husband was right, she couldn’t commit to both her career and motherhood.

“(Hawke) claimed I couldn’t be a full-time mother and actress. I insisted I could. But I couldn’t. I really try to give all of myself,” Contactmusic quoted her, as saying.

“I wouldn’t even read a script that wasn’t shooting in New York because I needed to be home.

“It’s a very difficult balance. I’ve thought about quitting but I love it too much, and now I’m a single mother so I can’t quit,” she added.

WebIndia

Uma and Arki were rumoured to be engaged in October, but her rep denied the reports.

Is Uma Thurman pregnant? I hope so, becasue there’s nothing worse then being told you look like you’ve got a pot belly.

Note by Celebitchy: It does look like a pregnancy bump to me. Uma is 37 and her boyfriend Arpad Busson is 44. Thanks to WENN for these pictures, also featuring Kevin Spacey at the The Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway on 12/11/07.

Today seems to be the day for drunken celebrities. Okay that’s not fair. Everyday is the day for drunken celebrities. But today seems to be the day for drunken celebrities with DUIs who are sentenced to alcohol education programs. That narrows the field down by at least 20 percent. Multiple DUI and drug user/possessor Nicole Richie was temporarily excused from her court-ordered anti-drinking program since she’s eight months pregnant. She was given a standard medical leave. Something tells me it wasn’t good for the baby to hear the words “drunk off my ass” “high off my ass” and “I was so wasted I fell on my ass” over and over again at such a critical stage of development. I have an image of Nicole’s baby in the womb holding a bottle of Heineken instead of milk. Wait do babies drink milk in the womb? They must, otherwise they’d starve, and it’s way cuter to pretend they do. Not so cute to pretend it’s drinking a brewski, but let’s be honest, kids emulate what they hear. So it was probably best Nicole go home and relax until she can leave the kid with a sitter.

Mom-to-be Nicole Richie has been granted a leave of absence from her court-mandated anti-drinking program, her rep confirms to People. The program suggested the Simple Life star take a leave because they were worried for her safety, according to her rep. “They offer that option to anyone with a medical condition of any kind,” the rep says. “She is not receiving special treatment.”

Richie, 26, who is eight months pregnant, must complete the 18-month program as part of her plea deal in her second DUI conviction. She was sentenced in July to four days in jail, fined $2,048, and required to sign up for the program. (In August, Richie served just 82 minutes at the Lynwood Jail, where pal Paris Hilton did her time.)

The alcohol-education course consists of 52 hours of group counseling, bi-weekly face-to-face interviews and 12 hours of alcohol education. Participants are also encouraged to attend 12-step meetings.

[From People]

Do you remember when your mom or dad would drag you on “adult” errands when you were a kid? You’d sit there, bored off your ass with a bunch of Cheerios to play with. And even as a kid, you knew that was kinda lame. I mean at least give me Fruit Loops, something with a little variety and color. Stimulate my developing cerebral cortex here. Now can you imagine instead of the local craft supply store, you’re sitting in on your mom’s bi-weekly face-to-face alcohol interview? Awesome. Hey if nothing else, it’s probably interesting enough that you don’t care about your damn Cheerios anymore.

Picture note by Celebitchy: Nicole Richie and Joel Madden are shown at the launch of The Richie-Madden Children’s Foundation at Los Angeles Free Clinic on 12/3/07, thanks to WENN.

It appears there’s a chance – a chance – that I might have misjudged Nicole Richie’s ability to be a decent parent. I’m not saying I’m totally wrong, but it appears that, if nothing else, fiancé Joel Madden has been a good influence on her. When the two set up the Richie Madden Children’s Foundation, I assumed it was just to get some good PR, and detract from Nicole’s DUI and spending 84 minutes in jail while pregnant. A lot of celebs seem to talk about how they’re starting a charity, and then you never hear about it again. That’s what I assumed would happen here. Kind of like Paris Hilton’s peacekeeping mission to Africa that we’ve been hearing about for so long. But it appears that the Richie/Madden duo actually are trying to do some good with their charity – they handed out $200,000 worth of baby goods to 100 needy families through the Los Angeles Free Clinic.

The couple hosted a surprise baby shower Monday for 100 expectant and new moms at the Los Angeles Free Clinic in Hollywood, where they handed out more than $200,000 worth of gifts. “The looks on their faces were priceless,” Richie told reporters after the shower. “Some of them didn’t even believe us [when they saw the gifts]. They thought we were joking.”

The Richie Madden Children’s Foundation, Madden said, was an idea the couple had when they found out they were expecting. “We grew up in Los Angeles,” he said, “and we want our child to be a part of the community, and to know that there’s a responsibility to help the community.” And it’s a family affair. “We named it the Richie Madden Children’s Foundation because we each have families and our families are close, and our family is involved,” Richie said. By her side with his arm stroking her back during moments in the conference, Madden quipped, “We’re lucky that we have families that get along and love each other,” adding, “I think it’s great that our child will grow up as a part of that family.”

Amongst the goodies given to families in need were Baby Bjorn products, cribs, mattresses and toys from Fisher-Price. “Everything they got, we got,” Richie says, “so everything that will be in their nursery, will be in our nursery.”

[From People]

People reported that for Nicole’s baby shower, guests were asked to bring gifts to donate to the charity instead of for the couple – though each guest did bring a book for the baby. I don’t want to sound naive, but I’m pretty impressed. There are few people less in need of baby supplies than celebrities. Nicole still got to have the fun of a shower (and I’m assuming the dumb games involving storks and diapers and such) but they actually managed to do something really great and useful for people in need. Hopefully this is a positive indication that Nicole is maturing and able to think about the needs of others.

Picture note by Celebitchy Nicole Richie is shown on 11/26/07 before having lunch with Paris and Nicky Hilton for publicity purposes.

To me, there are only a few things that are truly scary. Nuclear war, being in a car accident, and that little dead girl from “The Ring” climbing through my television set. I just bought a plasma TV under the assumption that she can’t fit in there. The store clerk wouldn’t put anything in writing, but he was pretty sure she wouldn’t like the plasma, since she died in a well. So I’m assuming I’m safe there. The only thought that rivals any of those is the possibility that someday, a child could burst forth from the loins of Paris Hilton. Scary, right? Which would you rather have, Paris Hilton’s baby shooting out of your TV or the dead Ring girl? I know, it’s not really one of those questions that can be answered.

Paris wants to have a baby, and it sounds like she has really well thought out, unselfish reasons. She wants her kid to be able to play with Nicole Richie’s baby. I wonder what she’s planning on doing with it the rest of the time.

Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie have been best friends – and occasionally the best of enemies – for years. Now that Richie is pregnant, Hilton says she’s hoping their offspring will be second-generation BFFs. “Nicole and I have been playing together since we were two years old,” she told PEOPLE at the Nissan Live Sets One Year Anniversary Party. “I was just telling her, ‘I want a baby so that our babies can play together.’”

Still, Hilton admits, she has a few things to take care of first – like finding a man! “I don’t have a boyfriend right now,” the Simple Life star insisted. “But I would love to start a family.” In the meantime, she’ll be content playing Auntie Paris to Richie’s baby with Joel Madden. (The little one is due in January). “[Nicole] is really excited, and happy, and a little scared,” Hilton said, adding that Madden is “a gentleman. … We all can’t wait!”

[From People]

Well at least she’s got her head on straight. If evolutionary theory is correct, Paris Hilton really shouldn’t be able to mate successfully. Though if that were true, a lot of people wouldn’t be able to reproduce; but it seems like a lot of the worst candidates are also the most fruitful. I wonder if Paris can teach her kid to speak with her unique vocal combination of flat affect with a side of valley girl accent, or if that’s a unique trait that can’t be reproduced. Something tells me she’ll end up being a godmother very soon, and hopefully that little tiny bit of responsibility will scare her off the idea of kids for a while.

Picture note by Jaybird: Here’s Paris hawking her new perfume “Can Can Paris Hilton” at Macy’s in Garden City, New York on November 13, 2007. Seems motherly to me. Images thanks to PR Photos.

There was a story that Nicole Richie wasn’t going to invite Paris Hilton to her planned (and postponed) wedding to Joel Madden after Paris asked Nicole if Joel was really the father of her baby. Paris and Nicole haven’t been seen out together since their over-hyped supposed makeup for the sake of their never-ending reality series The Simple Life. It was also thought that Paris was making an obnoxious dig at Nicole when she publicly told Christina Aguilera “Congratulations to the most beautiful pregnant woman in the world.”

Maybe these two have buried the hatchet, or maybe they just realize that they generate more publicity together, because Paris is hosting Nicole Richie’s baby shower this weekend:

According to In Touch, invites just went out for the shower, scheduled to take place at 12:30 p.m. on Sun., Nov. 18, at a Beverly Hills estate.

The party’s being given by Nicole’s mom, Brenda, but sister Sophia and “loving friends” Paris Hilton and Masha Gordon are listed as the official hosts.

Don’t see Paris hitting Party City to pick up supplies? Well, she’s not. Wedding planner to the stars Mindy Weiss is actually handling all the nitty-gritty—such as ensuring Nicole’s favorite foods will be served, including sushi (sorry, Nic, the raw stuff’s just for your buddies), coconut shrimp, lobster, lemon-pepper chicken, fruit and cake.

[From E! Online]

And in case you assumed that Nicole would be collecting all sorts of high-end baby crap like most of the other celebrity moms, she’s not expecting her friends to buy it for her at least. Nicole and her fiance, Joel Madden, have started a nonprofit organization, The Richie Madden Children’s Foundation, and ask that baby shower attendees make donations of needed baby items instead of giving gifts to Nicole. They’re also asking fans to make donations to their foundation, with the items to go to families in need who visit the LA Free Clinic. They plan to start a website with a baby registry for people to purchase items:

Nicole would like to invite friends, family and fans across America to participate in the moms-in-need program and highly publicized baby shower. The Richie Madden Children’s Foundation will create and promote an online registry to inspire the purchases of items for moms and their families in need. Anyone in the country will be able buy from the registry on her behalf for the clinic. The registry link will live on the Richie Madden Children’s Foundation website for at least six months and will be updated regularly based on the needs of the LA Free Clinic and other participating clinics.

[From PDF press release linked from USWeekly]

That’s surprisingly awesome of Nicole and Joel. Add in that Nicole is asking Paris Hilton to co-host her baby shower and she seems to have actually matured a bit. Maybe once the baby arrives she’ll realize what a spoiled brat she’s been her whole life and will start to dedicate most of her time to her new charity.

Photo of Nicole Richie’s shower invite fromInTouch. Nicole Richie is shown out shopping on 10/31, thanks to Splash News. Paris Hilton is shown promoting her Can Can fragrance at Macy’s in Philadelphia on 11/14, thanks to PRPhotos.

Nicole Richie seems to have postponed her planned wedding to boyfriend Joel Madden until after their baby is born in January. There were reports that she was going to marry Joel sometime this month, but it seems like they are going to wait as we haven’t heard much more about it.

This weeks’ National Enquirer claims that Nicole’s dad, Lionel Richie, told her to hold off getting married until after she had the baby. He’s also said to have promised to foot the entire bill:

[Nicole Richie’s dad] Lionel Richie keeps advising his fragile princess to postpone the wedding, avoid all the nuptual frenzy and just chill! Said a family insider: “Lionel doesn’t think Nicole can handle the stress, and told her: ‘Baby, in life it’s first things first!’” Knowing Nicole’s vulnerable and worried about delivering a healthy baby, Lionel’s assured her that as Father of The Bride, he’ll spend big bucks for a spectacular wedding whenever she wants it - but right now, he wants her to focus solely on the birth.

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, Mike Walker’s column, November 12, 2007]

Nicole may be waiting to get married on the advice of her family, but she’s still preparing for the ceremony in little ways. Star Magazine reports that Nicole purchased costumes for her little dogs including a tuxedo for her Shih tzu, Honeychild, and a bridesmaid dress for Foxxy Cleopatra, her Pomeranian. That’s kind of cheesy, but it could also be cute:

[Nicole Richie] recently bought a canine tuxedo for her mutt, Honeychild, and a bridesmaid dress for her Pomeranian, Foxxy Cleopatra, from tony Santa Monica pet store The Wagging Tail. She wants the pooches to walk down the aisle with her when she weds her baby daddy.

[From Star Magazine, print edition, November 12, 2007]

Maybe the outfits were for Halloween, but since they could also serve as doggie wedding attire, it does sound like she’s planning for her pets to walk down the aisle with her. At least she has a soft spot for her animals considering how nasty and cold she’s rumored to be. Hopefully she’ll feel that way about her baby, too

Nicole Richie is shown in the header image on 10/30/07 shopping. Thanks to Splash News for this picture. She is seen with Honeychild and Foxxy Cleopatra in images found at Celebrity Dog Blog.

You know how there are those mothers that sacrifice so much for their kids that they lose a part of themselves? The ones that feel guilty if they do anything nice for themselves or take ten minutes to put on makeup in the morning? Well surprisingly, we don’t need to worry about Nicole Richie being one of those moms. While it turns out the reports of her smoking may or may not have been true (Nicole claims she wasn’t even in New York at the time, but the New York Post is standing by their story. Regardless of what you think of them, I still think the Post is a hell of a lot more reliable than Nicole Richie. Further reports of her not giving a crap about her future child have surfaced.

Nicole Richie has had enough of pregnancy, according to a report in this week’s edition of Star Magazine. The pint-sized mom-to-be, who was accused of recently smoking earlier this week, has been sunbathing, chilling in the jacuzzi, and dying her hair. All of which are major No-No’s for an expectant mother. “Nicole could be doing real damage to the child, without even knowing it,” a friend tells the weekly gossip rag. “She’s being very careless. She just doesn’t want to be pregnant anymore. She’s tired of it. The thrill has definitely worn off.” “Nicole feels like she’s been pregnant for years, not months!”

“Nicole was out sunbathing in Hawaii three days in a row when she was there for her birthday,” Star’s source says. “She also relaxed in the Jacuzzi-another no-no for someone who’s pregnant.” Other Richie insiders claim Nicole was spotted at the Neil George Salon in Beverly Hills getting her hair dyed. “Most hairdressers and doctors tell women not to dye their hair while they are expecting. But Nicole doesn’t seem to think the advice applies to her.”

The Star report also blasts Nicole for allegedly trying to keep her pregnancy weight gain to a minimum: “She’s just not eating enough…. She had body image issues before she was pregnant. She’s tired of her body growing , and she to be done with it all. She figures she’s doing the best she can, and if that isn’t good enough for other people, well, that’s just tough,” Nic’s friend reports. “Nicole is tired of being pregnant. She wants to have a normal body, be able to eat sushi and have a drink without everyone giving a hard time about it.”

[From PopCrunch]

Boy that really makes you think of how true that trite phrase “Sometimes your best isn’t good enough” really is. If that’s Nicole Richie’s best, it doesn’t have anything to do with “if it’s not good enough for other people” - it has to do with if it’s not good enough for her baby, and it’s not. I know a lot of commenters will disagree with me, but when I was forced to watch the Simple Life a few times, I found her to be much more obnoxious and rude than Paris Hilton. She’d always say really inappropriate, rude, and sexual things to people to make them uncomfortable, and then laugh at them. I read an article once that talked about her “cutting” humor – and that was the most charitable way I’ve ever heard it. Paris is just too dumb and vapid; Nicole has a little bit of intelligence (little bit, I said little bit) – just enough to know how to truly be mean. She’ll make a great mother.

Six months pregnant Nicole Richie has denied yesterday’s report from The NY Post that she was seen smoking outside of two different restaurants in NY. She says through a rep that not only did she not smoke, she also was nowhere near NY recently and has been out of the country:

Richie’s rep tells Extra that accounts of Richie smoking are “irresponsible and untrue.” And while columnist Cindy Adams claims Richie lit up outside New York restaurants DaSilvano and Nobu (with fiance and father-to-be Joel Madden, even), Richie and Madden are reportedly abroad and nowhere near New York.

[From USWeekly]

Richie has said that she wants a natural birth and told Diane Sawyer that she doesn’t allow people to smoke around her and has given up anything that could possibly harm the baby, including caffeine and sushi. While there is only hearsay to back up reports of a pregnant Nicole behaving irresponsibly, there’s another pseudo celebrity in Britain who can’t deny pictures of her smoking after going on a drinking bender three months into her pregnancy. Former Atomic Kitten member and “I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here” winner Kerry Katona, who recently announced that she is due with her fourth child in May, was photographed smoking after she reportedly downed four martinis and a shot of vodka:

Kerry, twice Celebrity Mum of the Year, downed FOUR MARTINIS and a slug of VODKA in a pub with pals—despite being 12 weeks into an already troubled fourth pregnancy.

Then she popped to a restaurant over the road for a Chinese meal—and puffed greedily on a ciggie outside in the cold. One surprised drinker said: “Everyone knows Kerry’s pregnant so it was a bit of a shock to see her drinking and smoking.

“But she just said, ‘What the hell, a couple can’t hurt’.

“She went to the bar and ordered pints for the others and Martini for herself. It was the same round when the others were buying—and she also had a shot of vodka. She knocked it back in one, winced and then wiped her hand across her mouth and put the glass down.”

Her behaviour is even more shocking after her pregnancy with Heidi was beset by a string of miscarriage scares before the litle girl was born in February.

And the 27-year-old ex-Atomic Kitten star was also rushed into hospital last month—on the day she announced she was pregnant again. At first Kerry—who is married to ex-cabbie Mark Croft, 37, and also has daughters, Molly, six, and Lilly-Sue, four, by her first husband, former Westlife star Brian McFadden—was told she’d lost the baby.

But when she returned later the same day still feeling unwell, doctors discovered its heartbeat.

[From News Of The World via Gossip Rocks]

News of The World isn’t the most reliable source, and while Katona was photographed smoking, they may have embellished the part about how much booze she downed. There was a lot of controversy over a statement that Rachel Weisz made last year about how European doctors said that it was ok to drink while you’re pregnant - except not in the first three months while the fetus was most vulnerable. I had my only pregnancy in America, and my doctors told me not to drink at all. Once a midwife said I could have a glass of wine if I was in labor and I looked at her like she had two heads. Some obstetricians will tell you that an occasional glass is fine, especially in Europe, but it doesn’t seem worth the risk to your baby to me.

There was a recent study that found that moderate drinking posed no ascertainable risk to the baby after three months, and British associations are rethinking a ban on alcohol during pregnancy. When there’s no benefit to the baby from drinking though, why would you risk your baby’s health?

So Kerry Katona is supposedly downing shots and martinis when she’s barely three months’ pregnant, and she’s justifying smoking by making the ridiculous statement that stress from not smoking is worse for the baby! Commentors on ONTD on the post about Nicole Richie smoking brought up this photo that appeared in The Roanoke Times about a woman worrying about stress to her fetus from nearby construction noise - while she was smoking a cigarette. Snopes.com verifies that this is an actual newspaper clipping that was not doctored.