The Simple Life star Nicole Richie has been diagnosed with blood disorder hypoglycemia.

The condition means the skinny socialite’s blood sugar levels are often too low to provide an adequate amount of energy for her body.

A spokesperson for Richie tells America’s People magazine, “In her ongoing effort to focus on her well-being, Nicole has recently been diagnosed with hypoglycaemia.

“She is taking steps to manage it.”

The diagnosis comes less than a month after Richie was hospitalised for dehydration after falling ill while filming the new season of her hit reality show, in which she and pal Paris Hilton have been counselling children at a health camp.

A source says, “Four or five times she’s felt really faint and almost passed out and then she has to go into her trailer for a good part of the day.”

Richie has spent the last year battling reports she has an eating disorder and recently confessed she called in a therapist and a nutritionist to help her figure out why she was so thin.

Source: Teen Hollywood