SEMLOHE 28

Maybe it was nerves. Or maybe it just wasn't the time to issue a clarification.

But in court Monday,Nicole Richie's lawyer Mark Geragos referred to Joel Madden as her husband and Richie didn't correct him. The pair have been together for years and have two children.

The marital reference came up during her 15 minutes of testimony at a hearing in which a judge issued a restraining order against two aggressive paparazzi.

Richie, 28, wearing black slacks, a black-and-white blouse and her hair in a bun, stated on the witness stand she was "crying hysterically and scared" last month after she wasby the two photographers, who she says "stalk and harass" her daily.

"Did you call your husband?" asked Geragos.

"Yes," Richie said.

Madden also testified, telling L.A. Superior Court Judge Carol Boas Goodson that Richie "is terrified" that the photographers might cause another accident involving their children, Harlow, 22 months, and Sparrow, 9 weeks, whom she's with "24/7," he said.

The photographers, Ivon Miguel and Eduardo Arrivabene, attended the hearing and denied that they ever trespassed on Richie's property, which she alleged. At one point, Miguel stated to Richie, "I want to apologize for the accident. You don't have to worry about us. I come from a good family."

But the judge ordered the men to stay 50 yards away from Richie and her two children until 2012.
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