Richie addressing nutrition problems

Production on the next season of the E! Channel’s “The Simple Life” has been postponed because Nicole Richie, whose rail-thin appearance in recent photos has stoked tabloid speculation of an eating disorder, has checked into a treatment facility to address her inability to gain weight.

“She is working with a team of doctors and specialists whose focus is nutrition,” Nicole Perna, a spokeswoman for Richie, said in a statement. “It is important to Nicole that she achieves this goal in a healthy way as this is not a treatment for an eating disorder.”

The announcement comes weeks after Richie, 25, and her “Simple Life” co-star, Paris Hilton, ended a feud that had kept the two on nonspeaking terms for more than a year.

A spokesman for 20th Century Fox Television, which produces the series, said he expected production to resume “hopefully in the near future.”