You’ll forgive me for that obnoxiously worded title, said with wide eyes while clutching hands together in a mock bid for forgiveness. Nicole Richie has spoken about her DUI conviction stemming from a December, 2006 incident in which she was pulled over driving the wrong way on the freeway. Richie admitted to cops that she had done pot and vicodin that day, later claiming that she took the prescription painkiller for period cramps. That was actually her second DUI in less than five years, and she copped a plea and was sentenced to four days in jail. Richie was pregnant at the time she showed up to do her sentence and was let out of the Century Regional Detention Center after 82 minutes. This is the same facility where Paris Hilton served a full 22 days in jail for driving repeatedly on a suspended license after her DUI.

Now that Richie is a mom and has admirably turned her life around she says she realizes the error of her ways and won’t do it again. She also wants to be a better person and a better role model for her daughter Harlow, who is nearly six months old.

She explains, “We were watching the news once and they happened to be talking about drunk drivers. They started flashing up pictures of little children that had been killed by people driving under the influence.

“At that moment I literally felt like the worst person in the world for even trying to get out of that situation. That was our first real parent moment.”

She added, “There’s absolutely no way I will do anything like that again. I never took life seriously before. I’m in a completely different place now. I owe my baby my life. I have a responsibility now. I have to really be someone I want my child to look up to. I think it’s important for every child to look up to their parent. I want to show her the right path.”

[From Showbizspy via Gossip Rocks]

I can make fun of Richie’s revelation all I want, but she does deserve a lot of credit for changing her ways and being a devoted mom. She’s spotted out at events still, but that’s part of her job as a rich person known for showing up for stuff, and she does it well. She’s the one who saved her life, though, not her baby. There are plenty of women who have babies and don’t change at all.

Lane Garrison of Prison Break got into an accident while driving wasted on a vodka run. He ended up killing a 17 year-old male passenger who he had just met that night. He is serving 40 months in state prison and his actions will haunt him for the rest of his life.

If only all the other young celebrities could get the message that driving drunk is deadly. You don’t need an adorable baby to realize that you shouldn’t get behind the wheel wasted. Just look at your family and loved ones and think how much it would hurt if you lost them to a drunk driver.

I wonder who the next DUI celebrity will be. Hopefully the only damage they’ll do will be to their career.

This news is a little old, the quote came out earlier in the week, but I’m just hearing it now.

Nicole Richie is shown at the Cartier Love Bracelet Launch on 6/18/08, thanks to Adriana M. Barraza for WENN.