Joel Madden appeared to have a surprise in store for his pregnant girlfriend when he appeared live on a TV show on Thursday morning, before an excited presenter blurted it out.

The Good Charlotte frontman, who is currently in New York with Nicole, was on ABC’s Live With Regis and Kelly with his band and the subject soon turned to his personal life with Nicole and their baby.

"You’re going to present her, maybe, with - did I hear the right thing, or should I not even talk about this?" said presenter Regis Philbin.

"Uh, what?" deadpanned Joel.

"A little ring, or something," said the presenter.

"I was hoping it would be a surprise, but now," Joel answered.

Joel’s reaction quickly forced the presenter to spin on his heel and ask the frontman’s identical twin - and the band’s lead guitarist - Benji, whom he was dating.

But the cat was out of the bag. However, Joel also revealed that he was looking forward to being a dad, admitting that he is reading guidebooks like What To Expect When You’re Expecting, The Expectant Father and Baby Signs.

Nicole wants to go to county jail- Aug 3 2007
Nicole Richie wants to serve her time for driving under the influence of drugs in the Los Angeles County jail.

The reality TV star’s lawyer contacted the county Sheriff’s Department earlier this week and indicated the pregnant 25-year-old wanted to serve her four-day sentence in county lockup rather than a city jail, sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore said.

Whitmore said he had no additional details, including when Nicole might surrender to begin the sentence. She must complete it by September 28.

At the county jail, inmates often service only a fraction of their sentence for a variety of reasons, including overcrowding and good behaviour.

The county has a special women’s-only facility in Lynwood. It is the same place where the star’s friend Paris Hilton recently completed a 23-day stay for violating probation in an alcohol-related reckless driving case.

Nicole was arrested in December for driving the wrong way on a freeway in Burbank.

The daughter of Lionel Richie, who confirmed earlier this week that she is nearly four months pregnant, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanour charge in a deal with prosecutors that helped her avoid a potential year in jail on her second DUI conviction. She had an alcohol-related conviction in 2003.

She was ordered to spend 90 hours, either in county jail or at any city jail in the county that would accept her. She would have had to serve the full sentence in a city lockup.

Many city lockups are also small facilities that cannot provide the necessary medical care for pregnant inmates.


It’s a boy for Nicole! - Aug 2 2007
Nicole Richie and her boyfriend, Good Charlotte frontman Joel Madden, have apparently learned that they’ll be welcoming a son this winter.

The pregnant 25-year-old was told about the gender of her baby during an ultrasound at Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre in LA, and the couple have been given a due date of December 30 for their first child.

Friends told In Touch Weekly that Nicole was hoping for a girl, but the Simple Life star was very happy to get the news 16 weeks into her pregnancy.

"She’s having fun planning for the baby - shopping, picking out names and designing a nursery," said the friend.

While the couple are hugely excited, they are also nervous about becoming parents - and Nicole still has to serve her four days in jail.