Nicole Richie Released on Bail  12/12/06

Socialite-turned-reality TV star Nicole Richie is free on $15,000 bail after her early morning driving under the influence arrest on Monday (11DEC06).

The Simple Life star was booked for going the wrong way on a Los Angeles freeway, while allegedly under the influence of drugs.

The 25-year-old was stopped by members of the California Highway Patrol in Burbank, California and briefly jailed in Glendale, California after reportedly visiting new boyfriend and Good Charlotte singer Joel Madden.

According to police officer Todd Workman, "She was disoriented, she wasn't responsive to his questions and he had to assist her out of the car and help walk her over to the passenger side of the vehicle and set her in there."

CHP officers say Richie failed two field sobriety tests and admitted she had taken prescription painkiller Vicodin and had smoked marijuana earlier in the evening.

According to TMZ, the frail star - who was listed on her arrest record as being five foot one and a meager 85 pounds, has hired celebrity attorney Howard Weitzman to represent her.

This is not her first brush with the law - in 2003, she pled guilty to heroin possession and had the charges dismissed after she completed the terms of her probation.