Candidly Nicole Richie Husband Joel Madden Drinking Causes Divorce?

The tabloids' near-constant speculating that Nicole Richie and Good Charlotte husband, Joel Madden, are close to getting a divorce has hit a fever pitch. According to the latest gossip news updates, the Candidly Nicole reality star is getting ever more desperate thanks to the Australian Voice coach's heavy drinking and half-hearted approach to rising their kids. Word has it the Paris Hilton's former bestie has even spoken to a high-powered Hollywood divorce attorney for lack of any better solutions to her issue with the Madden Brothers' hard partying twin.

For weeks the supermarket tabloids have been claiming that Nicole Richie is getting fed up with her husband's refusal to feed the kids the healthly items she thinks would be best for them but have seen the need to ramp the rumor mill up a notch this week.

A supposedly credible source insists in the May 11, issue of Star magazine that now it's Joel appetite for destruction that has his wife desperately wondering what happened to the man she married:

"Joel's been drinking during the day, often hard liquor, and Nicole's desperately worried about him.

"It's one thing being rock 'n' roll, but Joel struggles with moderation and his hangovers are terrible.

"He's rarely there for breakfast with the family, and if he is, he's a mess."

According to the informant, Nicole has tried to bring the dangerous binge drinking to his attention, but so far it hasn't seemed to make much of a difference:

"She's begging him to slow down and put his health first, for the sake of the family."

Someone claiming to be close to Richie told InTouch Weekly, that Nicole has finally decided that she can no longer let things spiral out of control without being proactive, even if it means making thinks worse before they are better:

"Nicole recently met with one of LA's most prominent divorce attorneys and is weighing her options.

"The last thing she wants is a public split with the children involved, but she's desperately unhappy."

If this story doesn't take off the way the gossip mongers want it to, one has to wonder what they are going to have Joel Madden supposedly do next...mixing up cocktails for his kids?