Lionel Richie: I Survived Life With Nicole

Singer And TV Land "Icon" Recipient Says Raising Daughter Was "Struggle And A Half"

(CBS)  It's not easy raising a tabloid celebrity, Lionel Richie will tell you.

The singer was accepting the "Icon" honor at Sunday night's taping of the TV Land Awards, when he get got applause and a laugh at daughter Nicole's expense.

"Forget about surviving 40 years in the music business," Lionel Richie told the audience. "Just surviving 27 years of Nicole Richie has been a struggle-and-a-half, I want to tell you. I stand here as a survivor, I want you to know, for all the parents out there."

In 2007, Nicole Richie she spent 82 minutes in jail after being convicted of driving under the influence of drugs. She was arrested in December 2006 after witnesses reported seeing her Mercedes-Benz sport utility vehicle headed the wrong way on a freeway in Burbank, California.

Nicole, who made a name for herself on Fox TV's "The Simple
Life" along with best friend Paris Hilton, hasn't posed for any
mug shots lately. Rather, she has been spotted out and about with
3-month-old Harlow, her daughter with Good Charlotte rocker Joel
Madden.

The sixth annual TV Land Awards are scheduled to air June 15 on
the cable network.