Lionel Richie to Nicole Richie: 'Baby, call me!'

[CherryDarling]

Lionel Richie says he doesn't know if daughter Nicole is pregnant, and he poked fun at himself for being an out-of-touch dad on Saturday by pleading, "Nicole, baby, call me!"

But the pop legend was serious in discussing how his life might change if his daughter is pregnant.

"Grandpa, man, that's wild," Richie told PEOPLE just minutes after performing at the Essence Music Festival in New Orleans on Saturday. "I don't know if I'm going to be grandpa, I don't know if I'm ready to be called grandpa."

Richie says Nicole is "living her life under a microscope, but it's the kind of life you live at that age."

Richie also told a group of reporters he believes his daughter is "fabulous. She keeps apologizing [about being in the news so much], I tell you, she's doing exactly what you're supposed to do... she's living her life. If we had cell phones, MySpace, Internet back then, God knows what my parents would have known about The Commodores."

Richie, looking fit in blue jeans and a white dress shirt, played several of his well-known hits from Commodores era to an appreciative crowd in the Superdome on the final day of the Essence Music Festival. The festival returned to New Orleans this year after a one-year move to Houston while the Katrina-damaged Superdome was being repaired. Richie also closed out the Jazz and Heritage Festival last year just months after Katrina.

"There comes a time in your career when people tell you that you've made it, and that's what I feel has happened to me," Richie tells PEOPLE. "I just feel completely honored to apply these songs to be part of helping New Orleans recover, and I'm humbled by how this city has embraced me."

Saturday's concert also featured Mary J. Blige, Kelly Rowland, Ne-Yo and Maze featuring Frankie Beverly. Richie noted that the emphasis of Saturday's music was "the foundation of how we got started. That, what you heard tonight, was pure foundation. I'm just sorry I didn't have my platform shoes and Afro."

Richie says his immediate plans are to work on an album with Ne-Yo and go on tour in Europe and Australia.

Rowland, who performed snippets of several songs for about 20 minuets as the first act on Saturday, told reporters the last time she was in New Orleans was as a member of Destiny's Child. She said she is focusing on a "mature, more confident image" as a solo artist and hopes she can inspire children to consider a career in music.

Said Rowland: "When I was four, I told my momma, 'I want to sing on stage like Whitney Houston with a red dress on.'"

source: Lionel Richie to Nicole: 'Baby, Call Me!' - Lionel Richie, Nicole Richie : People.com

[cataroo]

Don't hold your breath, Lionel!!

[RevellingInSane]

Nicole would never be a spoiled brat who has no need for her parents. Not her.

[happy8]

Hey Lionel...cut off her $$$ and I bet she would call pronto!

[carrie2008]

I got a feeling he'll be called grandpa sooner than he wants to be...

[Fabularosa]

Originally Posted by happy8

Hey Lionel...cut off her $$$ and I bet she would call pronto!

Exactly.

[AliceInWonderland]

^ yep and im not suprised by the out-of-touch part; celebrities shouldnt have kids, period!

[Novice]

but she's also not speaking to her adopted mum for one reason or another.... so how many people isn't she talking to?

[Fabularosa]

Originally Posted by Novice

but she's also not speaking to her adopted mum for one reason or another.... so how many people isn't she talking to?

She doesn't seem to be talking to the judge ...

[DoveFeatheredRaven]

Lionel, Jon Voight, and Michael Lohan need to start a club.

[AliceInWonderland]

^ yeah really! omg

[happy8]

Originally Posted by DoveFeatheredRaven

Lionel, Jon Voight, and Michael Lohan need to start a club.

You forgot Jamie Spears and Mr. Hilton on that list

[Novice]

Nicole's Baby In Danger, Kellie Pickler On The Verge Of Collapse and Nicky Hates Paris



Nicole’s Baby in Danger

She’s just 25 years old, but Nicole Richie has done more than her share of hard living. But the 12-weeks-pregnant Nicole is facing her biggest challenge yet – motherhood!

Although she’s frightened and desperate to stay clean, sources say sobriety remains a daily struggle, and experts agree that beating her demons will likely be a long and arduous process.
Renowned addiction psychiatrist Aldo Morales M.D. tells Star, “It’s going to be an uphill battle. The odds are not in her favor…She’s dealing with multiple addictions plus an eating disorder.”
As Star reported three weeks ago, Nicole consumed a staggering 73,000 pills in just four years – including Vicodin and the muscle relaxant Soma. The she discovered she was pregnant.

When she signed on as an outpatient at the Beau Monde treatment center in California in May she weighed just 83 pounds and was in a panic, say sources. An insider reports to Star, “She was in tears. She explained she was pregnant and needed help because her boyfriend threatened to leave her if she didn’t do something about her addiction.”

If she did have drugs in her system when she got pregnant, she could be at risk for a miscarriage or birth defects.

A clinical professor at Yale tells Star, she is surprised that the scary-skinny star could conceive at all, “Nicole needs to gain at least 40 pounds to nourish the baby properly.”
There’s yet another hurdle looming for the mom-to-be. Nicole was arrested last December for DUI after police caught her going the wrong way down an L.A. freeway. While she pleaded not guilty, she did admit to taking Vicodin and smoking pot at the time of her arrest – and she could face up to a year in jail!

Sources say Nicole is now trying hard to take care of herself – and her baby. And the baby’s father, Joel Madden, is right by her side. But every day is tough. “Nicole had morning sickness in the beginning, so she had a hard time keeping any food down at all,” a friend tells Star. She is supposed to take prenatal vitamins as well but that makes her nauseous, so it’s been a struggle to keep them down.

Nicole seems to want to fight. She admitted “I’m scared” on national TV, and sources say she’s trying to do what’s best for her and her baby!

An insider notes, “She entered rehab early in the pregnancy and is being treated by the top doctors in L.A. and is following their instructions to the letter.”
Crazy Days and Nights

I will only believe she is preggers when she produces a baby, and to be honest, I doubt that I will then. If Tom Cruise can have kids.....