BEIJING, July 9 (Xinhuanet) -- Rythm & Blues legend Lionel Richie said his daughter Nicole is "just in an unfortunate situation," Saturday night after his performance at the Essence Music Festival in New Orleans.
Nicole Richie, 25, is scheduled to go on trial
Wednesday. She was arrested Dec. 11 and pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor
charge of driving under the influence. In addition, her case contains an
allegation that she had a prior misdemeanor DUI conviction in June 2003, which
may put her in the same company with friend Paris Hilton.
"She keeps apologizing to me," Lionel Richie said. "I
told her, ¡®You're doing exactly what you're supposed to be doing to your father
at this age.'"
The R&B star said celebrities today are under
more scrutiny than ever before.
"There's just so much information out there right now
¡ª MySpace, cell phones, the Internet," he said. "If we had had all that when The
Commodores were around, God only knows what my mother and father would have
seen."
To be determined is whether Nicole Richie will spend
time in jail like Hilton, who served about 23 days behind bars for violating
probation in an alcohol-related reckless driving case.
The California vehicle code says a person convicted
of DUI twice within 10 years can be sentenced to 90 days to a year in jail and
have driving privileges suspended.
An estimated 200,000 people attended the Essence
Music Festival, which returned to New Orleans for the first time since Hurricane
Katrina, festival officials said Sunday. The festival had been held in New
Orleans over the Fourth of July weekend since its launch in 1995. Last year, it
was moved to Houston.
(Agencies)
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