Nicole Richie enrols in anti-drinking programme

Pregnant Nicole Richie enrols in 18-month anti-drinking programme

Nicole Richie has signed up to an extensive rehabilitation programme for an 18-month anti-drink driving course.

The star, who is six months pregnant, has signed up to the 'SB 38 Alcohol Program', for people who have been convicted of driving under the influence (DUI) more than once during a seven year period.

Richie will attend 52 hours of group counselling, twice weekly face-to-face interviews and 12 hours of alcohol education, in accordance with the Santa Barbara Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse.

The Simple Life star's enrolment follows her arrest last year when she drove her black Mercedes SUV the wrong way down a highway in Southern California. Richie was booked for driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs after failing a breathalyser test and confessing to police she had smoked marijuana.

In July this year the 26-year-old was sentenced to four days in jail, fined $2,048 and made to sign up to the rehab course. But the four-day sentence shrank to just 82 minutes behind bars.

Since her escapades Richie has told US journalist Diane Sawyer in an extensive interview that she is now completely clean: 'No alcohol, no marijuana, no pill, nothing, no smoking around me,' she said.