Nicole Richie - Seven Months Pregnant and Still Smoking?

It has been claimed with more and more insistence over the past days that Nicole Richie is still smoking, despite being seven months pregnant. And I have to say, I'm a bit disappointed in Nicole, particularly since I was actually a little proud of how she managed to keep herself away from trouble and even the media these past months. Being busted for DUI and being pregnant really seem to have worked their magic on Nicole, who is expecting her first child but has apparently been unable to give up cigarettes.

She has allegedly been seen lighting up on several separate occasions outside various Beverly Hills restaurants. A source, who claims to have spotted Nicole sneaking out of a restaurant for a cigarette earlier this month, stated for the New York Post newspaper: "I saw Nicole come out of DaSilvano with a girlfriend and a middle aged lady. She looked around at the outdoor tables, like she was checking to see who was there, and then lit up. They drove off in a black Cadillac Escalade and Nicole was still smoking".

A few days later, Nicole, 26, was dining with fiancé Joel Madden (Good Charlotte front man and the father of her unborn child) at Nobu and as soon as they left, she is said to have lit up a cigarette. I'm not going to go into a long rant about the effects of smoking on pregnant women, but if you're interested in this topic, you can find a pretty comprehensive (and scary) list HERE.

The fact is, smoking is definitely not the smartest thing a pregnant woman could do. As I was saying earlier, Nicole seems to have done best for herself if we put the reformed mother to be next to her former (and actual?) friends Paris and Lindsay (all three stars were busted for DUI at one point or another over the past year or so) - so it would be a shame if she stopped it. I mean, if she has managed to get her media addiction under relative control, I'm sure cigarettes will be nothing compared to that. So, we're all waiting to see Nicole stop smoking, and I'm pretty sure we'll be seeing her release a book about the whole thing in a few years' time.