The super-slim 'Simple Life' star checked into the Beau Monde treatment centre last Thursday (26.10.06) to seek help to gain weight, but checked out 72 hours later insisting she needed some retail therapy.
A source is quoted by America's Star magazine as saying: "Nicole is in complete denial and oblivious to how sick she really is. She said she wanted to go shopping. The staff begged her to stay but she wouldn't listen and left." The 25-year-old, the adopted daughter of singer Lionel Richie, denies that she has an eating disorder and insisted she entered the $80,000-a-month centre in Newport Beach to undergo tests to find out why she couldn't put on weight.
A spokeswoman said last Thursday (26.10.06): "Nicole has decided to undergo diagnostic treatment to determine why she's not been putting on any weight.
"She is working with a team of doctors and specialists whose focus is nutrition. It is important to Nicole that she achieves this goal in a health y way as this is not a treatment for an eating disorder." After she had left the facility Nicole was seen partying at Hollywood nightclub Hyde with 'Mean Girls' star Lindsay Lohan.
It was alleged Nicole collapsed at the nightspot and was carried out by friends through the back door.