Nicole Richie's Nipple Piercing Causes Alarm

Lionel Richie's daughter NICOLE's choice of intimate body piercing left her highly embarrassed recently, when she had to show her breasts to airport security.

The aspiring singer, who stars in hit reality show The Simple Life alongside her best pal Paris Hilton, was travelling from Reno, Nevada to New York City when her nipple piercing triggered off metal detectors at a security checkpoint.

She recalls, "(When the alarm went off), I said, 'I'm pierced,' and that usually is the end of it. And she said, 'Well, what are you gonna do about it?' I said, 'Well, you can either scan it or...I don't know what to tell you.'

"She said, 'Well, visually, I can't say that that is okay. Even if I look at it I can't say it's okay. I'm not even allowed to touch it.' I'm like, 'What if I say you can touch it? It should be fine.' She's like, 'No, I'm not allowed to do that.'

"So they brought in two female officers and took me not to necessarily the most private place in the airport and made me take off my top. Thank God I'm not a shy person, but what if I was shy?

"You know what, you guys are letting lighters on the plane and stuff like that, but I can't have a nipple ring? What am I gonna do - poke someone in the eye with it?"