There is a great debate going on in Hollywood and everywhere else U.S.A. Celebrities are being scrutinized more than ever. Make that female celebrities:) And in this ever growing fish bowl is the new celebrity target - Nicole Richie.

In every celebrity magazine, every week, is a picture of Richie - looking quite thin - and bouncing about town in a new designer outfit and handbag that seems to be a bit bigger than she is:)

It was even rumored that her dramatic weight loss and refusal to get help for it was the source of the tragic:) break-up between her and her longtime friend Paris HIlton.

But to be fair - Nicole Richie has seriously transformed her life. She is the adopted daughter of a very public and tumultuous divorced couple - Lionel and Brenda Richie. Probably the initial source of many of her emotional troubles.

She battled her way back from a very tough alcohol and drug addiction through rehab and lots of family and individual therapy.

She landed a great reality television gig as Paris Hilton's partner in crime on The Simple Life, and is the author of a fiction title: The Truth About Diamonds. She also is getting married to fiance DJ AM, and appears to be very happy in that relationship.

Okay that sounds great - but isn't she just too skinny?

While it is true that Nicole Richie looked unhealthy early on in The Simple LIfe and in other celebrity pictures around that time - I wouldn't necessarily have called her chubby. Instead I would say, she looked bloated. Unhealthy from all of the poisons she was ingesting, Richie has said in the past (such as on the Oprah show) that she had been on an escalating path of alcohol and drug abuse since the age of 13.

When coming clean - it is very possible that Richie began an extremely disciplined exercise and diet regime to reclaim her health and control her life. And then went - overboard.

Many times people who suffer from an addiction of some kind - alcohol, drugs, overeating, gambling etc., will substitute that vice for another intense activity, addiction, or obsession. That is why it is not recommended for people who are in a 12-step program to begin dating each other. Instead of dealing with themselves, they just substitute the energy spent on getting drunk or high on the new relationship. Then the relationship becomes too intense, too fast, and fizzles out quickly because there was no real foundation.

Nicole Richie may have simply substituted years of addiction with the compulsion to control her life and feelings in other ways, and controlling her intake of food is one way she may have chosen to take charge of her life.

Of course this behavior can easily manifest itself into a full-blown eating disorder, because it is based on the principle of "control" where these disorders usually begin.

The Bottom Line?

Well, the bottom line is that although she may have her reasons - Nicole Richie is way too thin - too skinny - much too petite. Hopefully, in spite of all the media attention to her weight - she will get the "real" kind of help and attention she needs from her friends and family, as well as direction from a mental health professional who can help her redirect her energy into more positive avenues.

Good luck Nicole!

Lisa Angelettie, M.S.W., is a psychotherapist, author, and an online advice authority. She has been helping people make smarter life choices since 1998. Visit her for Advice & Counseling, or take a free Depression Screening today at http://www.Girlshrink.com You can also Subscribe to the site's popular self-help ezine: "Better Choices".

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