SANTA MONICA, Calif. – It's not easy raising a celebutante. Take it from Lionel Richie.
The singer was accepting the "Icon" honor at Sunday night's taping of the TV Land Awards, when he 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 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, Calif.
Nicole, who made a name for herself on Fox's "The Simple Life" along with 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.