I will admit that I have bashed Nicole Richie. On several occasions. On “The Simple Life” I’ve seen her act in ways that I’ve considered downright rude and never amusing, mostly to kids. So the thought of her having her own kid to taunt seemed like a pretty bad idea to me. However her fiancé Joel Madden seems to have been a good influence on her. They started a joint children’s charity, for which they’ve been really active in just the six months its been around. Now according to a little blurb in Star, Richie was incredibly gracious to both the staff and other patients at the hospital where she recently gave birth to daughter Harlow.

There’s no doubt about it – nine out of 10 hospital nurses prefer Nicole Richie to Christina Aguilera! Both starlets had their babies at L.A.’s Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in January, but only one of them made friends. “Nicole was a big hit with the nurses and the other women giving birth,” says a source. “She bought six other mothers having babies the same day ‘push gifts,’ including gift certificates to Target, teddy bears, balloons and a card wishing them luck. She also had all of the nurses in stitches with her wry humor” Meanwhile, Christina was not so nice, says the source. “The nurses were happy to see her go!”

[From Star, Feb. 11th 2008, print edition]

Somehow I would have expected the reverse to be true. Christina has the reputation of being a bit of a diva, and Nicole a bit of a bitch. But somehow I would have expected Christina to have been the classier of the two. Though to be fair, if I ever have to push a human being out of my body, I fully intend on being a raging bitch. Nicole has either really turned a new leaf or she’s at least hired an incredible publicist. I’ve heard almost nothing but good things about her in the last six months. Let’s hope she keeps it up and is a great mom.

Thanks to BuzzFoto for the header image.