For the first time in recent memory, Nicole Richie really, really doesn’t want to be more like Paris Hilton. The tiny starlet announced today through her lawyer that she will fight her most recent DUI charge, and a court date has been set for July 11. Richie was formally charged with a DUI in February, after driving the wrong way on an L.A. freeway last December as she was leaving boyfriend Joel Madden’s house at 4 in the morning.

Nicole has a previous DUI, so if she’s convicted, she faces a minimum of five days in prison, and a maximum of one year. All this happens to coincide with Internet rumors that Nicole’s preggers — with photographs of Richie’s supposed “baby bump” circulating. At first my reaction was, like, you say “baby bump,” I say “distended belly.” But these rumors have persisted for several weeks now, and the photos are becoming more convincing — I wonder if Nicole’s hoping a pregnancy will keep her out of jail.

As if being the arguable secondary cause of Lindsay Lohan’s DUI (LL’s alcoholism being, of course, the primary cause) weren’t enough, DJ Samantha Ronson is apparently friends with Nicole Richie, too.

Folks, I think this girl’s probably a drug dealer.

Also, what’s with the peace signs in this picture? Are they making fun of Lindsay’s signature pose?

With friends like these, man …

These pictures were taken before Mischa’s reported bad trip and hospital visit on Sunday. Ironically, in these pics, it looks like Nicole’s the one who needs to be rushed to the hospital. Hair is not supposed to look like that, Nicole.

So the story broke late last night that Miss Nicole Richie was in rehab for anorexia and a pill addiction. The National Enquirer and Star magazine launched a “joint newsgathering operation” (read: National Enquirer did the newsgathering and AMI stuck Star’s name on it, too), and determined that Nicole had checked into the Beau Monde Treatment Center in Corona del Mar, California on May 11 to deal with anorexia and an addiction to pills. Apparently the folks at Bauer Griffin caught her entering the facility on May 19 with an overnight bag. (How does one know exactly what an “overnight” bag looks like? Couldn’t it have just been a bag with things in it?)

Let’s remember, too, that Nicole still faces possible jail time for her DUI late last year — because it’s her second DUI, she will serve a mandatory five days in jail if she’s convicted. There’s a pretrial hearing for her case on June 8, just three days after pal Paris Hilton is set to start serving her jail time.

Richie’s rep, however, denies the starlet is currently in rehab. “She is not in rehab. She is at home in Glendale. Sobriety is an ongoing process but she is sober.” According to TMZ, Nicole did go to the facility to meet with her therapist, but was not participating in an in-patient program.

The folks at Star and National Enquirer are sticking by their story. “We figured Nicole’s publicist would try to deny this,” they say. “We have excellent sources, though.”

I feel bad for Nicole. She’s trying hard to deal with her addictions, and I’m sure she’s freaked out about going to jail. It’s a slow process, I guess.

Nicole Richie is in rehab…yawn.
I guess she was really skinny when she got there…yawn.
She has an addiction to pills and other bad stuff…yawn.
She is anorexic…DUH.

Click here if you actually care anymore. I’m so over Nicole Richie I can’t stand it. I do hope that she does get herself some help.

You know every time Paris befriends…or re-befriends someone they end up in rehab. Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears…now Nicole. Coincidence? I think not.

The kids over at Buzznet sat down to depose model Lauren Hastings about the whole Lindsay-Lohan-stole-my-clothes debaucle. A court today dismissed Lauren’s felony complaint against La Lohan (the two girls met in rehab), but this video is still worth watching, if only to remind us that young Hollywood is still very much the sequel to Mean Girls. You have to listen until the part where Lauren reads the scathing emails she received from Lohan pals such as Samantha Ronson and Nicole Richie (who has a long-standing record of kicking Hastings out of parties after the young model was linked to DJ AM). This is some seriously seventh-grade drama.

There was a certain someone at the Armani Exchange Sunglass Launch yesterday in L.A. who can always put a smile on Miss Lohan’s face … find out who after the jump, plus more pics from the event.

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