Nicole Richie: 'I Force Myself to Eat'

**jtoland** · May 5th, 2006, 10:38 PM

Unlike almost every other person on the planet, Nicole Richie can scarf down "the worst foods -- salty cheese-and-grease kind of stuff" and still maintain a figure that falls somewhere between painfully thin and please-put-those-bones-away-before-you-hurt-someone. At least that's what Lionel's lean little girl tells the latest issue of Vanity Fair, although she admits she could stand to pack on a few pounds.

"I know I'm too thin right now, so I wouldn't want any young girl looking at me and saying, 'That's what I want to look like,'" she acknowledges to the mag. "I do know that they will, which is another reason I really do need to do something about it. I'm not happy with the way I look right now."

To that end, Richie, 24, reveals she's hired a team of experts to evaluate her fat-free frame and figure out why she's not gaining weight, despite her best efforts.

"I get really stressed out, and I do lose my appetite," she says, "but I do force myself to eat. I tried to put the weight on my way, eating burritos, but that wasn't working, so I started seeing a nutritionist and a doctor. I was scared that it could be something more serious, because it wasn't making any sense to me; I really was trying ..."

Sighs Nicole, "Yes, I'm too thin, but that's just a result of what's really going on with me; the bigger picture is how I deal with problems."

Part of how she deals with them is by encouraging her psychiatrist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles to break that pesky patient confidentiality thing and open up to the magazine.

"Our evaluation is an ongoing one," explains the doc, who was understandably "reluctant to talk" about Richie. "We're working on a systematic plan to get more calories in, and we're going to watch it and see if it succeeds. We're all concerned, and she's concerned, but it's either going to improve or it won't."

Adds the worried shrink, "If it's not anorexia, she should be able to gain the weight. If it ends up being anorexia, we'll help her with that. I think she's willing to look this in the eye."

Nicole blames some of her gauntness on her "bad breakup" in December with Adam "DJ AM" Goldstein (they've since reconciled), explaining, "It eats me up inside when I'm upset about something." Still, she insists she's "gained weight since I was at my thinnest."

Just don't ask her exactly how much.

Although Richie is weighed once a week by her nutritionist, she claims she has no idea what the scale reads: "Numbers aren't going to mean anything to me."

www.msn.com

**Wonderwoman** · May 5th, 2006, 10:41 PM

I hope she gets better and she marries her fiance.

**esmereldagrubb** · May 5th, 2006, 10:51 PM

Originally Posted by jtoland

Although Richie is weighed once a week by her nutritionist, she claims she has no idea what the scale reads: "Numbers aren't going to mean anything to me."

www.msn.com

This is a major ED recovery mantra.....and numbers on a scale shouldnt scare her so much if she didnt have an eating disorder. If it looks like a duck and sounds like a duck IT IS A DUCK!

**MrsMarsters** · May 6th, 2006, 02:36 AM

I dont really feel sorry for her

**Totofan** · May 6th, 2006, 09:39 AM

I'm sure the doctor is not happy to be used as a PR agent because that is what she is trying to do by having him discuss her case. She was frightfully thin before she and DJ AM broke up and of course I'm not a fly on the wall but it didn't seem that the break up was that devastating.

**LynnieD** · May 6th, 2006, 10:06 AM

Originally Posted by MrsMarsters

I dont really feel sorry for her

I don't really either....and wonder if there is MORE to this story (which of course there is). But what exactly?? Is she still hitting the pipe?? You have to wonder.....

There is something oddly likeable about her (just imho). And I hope she gets better, whatever the issue is....because the chick is going to die otherwise.

**leigh** · May 6th, 2006, 10:13 AM

Hey, I give her props for admitting that she's too thin. Did Lara Flynn Boyle or Calista Flockhart or any other emaciated celeb do that?

**MrsMarsters** · May 6th, 2006, 05:52 PM

I don't know how she lasted this long really. Either get help..or stop appearing on magazines..attention whore..I like her but then I don't because..wtf is she on the cover of so MANY magazines..if she hates herself so much? And if she really cares about the younger girls out there..why doesn't she go on some tv show..and announce to the world she has an eaten disorder..and that no one should follow the same path she has taken?

Or i guess she is still into the attention for now.

**WickedHo** · May 6th, 2006, 05:56 PM

Originally Posted by leigh

Hey, I give her props for admitting that she's too thin.

Me, too. I used to intensely dislike her, but ever since her feud with Paris, she's become "likeable" to me. Sort of.

**Mr. Authority** · May 6th, 2006, 06:12 PM

I along with what Mrs. Marsters is saying. If she's really under all this stress and has a problem with eating, then why would she be going on all these magazines and smiling. I understand it's publicity, but she should've said something about her disorder a while ago.

**esmereldagrubb** · May 6th, 2006, 09:40 PM

Originally Posted by leigh

Hey, I give her props for admitting that she's too thin. Did Lara Flynn Boyle or Calista Flockhart or any other emaciated celeb do that?

Calista came clean about being too thin but NOT about her specific eating disorder.

**NinaNina19** · May 8th, 2006, 10:13 AM

Originally Posted by Wonderwoman

I hope she gets better and she marries her fiance.

**miss_perfect** · May 8th, 2006, 10:16 AM

She won my vote when she fed Paris dog treats on The Simple Life 2.

That having been said, I agree with Mrs. Marsters. If she's so committed to projecting the right image to young girls, she's going about it the wrong way.

**FierceKiten** · May 8th, 2006, 10:27 AM

To that end, Richie, 24, reveals she's hired a team of experts to evaluate her fat-free frame and figure out why she's not gaining weight, despite her best efforts.

Are you serious?, It's called either the coke or the finger bitch!

**Barbara** · May 8th, 2006, 10:54 AM

I thought her problem was that she was not eating. Now I see she is not eating because of her many problems, because of how much stress she is under. From what? Having too much time to go shopping and go to events? Poor rich girl.