Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Lionel Richie 'Sensitive' About Daughter's Weight

Lionel Richie, father of size-zero Nicole Richie, says he's hurt by media chatter about his daughter's weight loss.

"I'll be honest with you, it hurts me more than it hurts her," the 57-year-old R&B singer tells "Access Hollywood" in an interview that was to air Monday. "I must tell you, I'm the basket case."

Richie, 24, co-stars with ex-friend Paris Hilton in the E! reality-style series "The Simple Life -- 'til Death Do Us Part." A new format allows the feuding friends to have nothing to do with each other.

In a recent interview in Vanity Fair magazine, Richie acknowledged she was "too thin right now" and was getting treatment to add pounds.

Richi...