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Madeline Albright is freaking out over her role as Herbalife cheerleader

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is no stranger to conflict, but she finds herself fighting a new battle as chief booster for Herbalife.

Albright, who started her own advisory firm after she left the State Department, acts as both a business consultant and a brand ambassador for the multilevel marketing company. The lucrative gig has earned her firm an estimated $10 million over the past six years.

But with the company increasingly under fire from state and federal regulators, Albright is worried about attacks on her own reputation and has been in closed-door strategy sessions recently with Herbalife CEO Michael Johnson, The Post has learned.

Herbalife is being probed over allegations that it is a pyramid scheme. The Federal Trade Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the FBI, the Department of Justice and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman are investigating the company.

“Unlike the new communications and lobbyist firms that have been hired by the company, Albright herself and her partner James O’Brien have been outspoken paid advocates for the company and its controversial business model,” one source said.

Albright’s firm, the Albright Stonebridge Group, has used her diplomatic credibility to open doors for Herbalife abroad. She was particularly effective in getting Herbalife licenses in China, which takes a dim view of multilevel marketing companies, sources said.

In addition, Albright has spoken at Herbalife “extravaganzas,” or international pep rallies, including one last year in Cologne, Germany, where she extols the company, its products and the business opportunity.

At an Herbalife event in New Delhi last year, for instance, she called the company a “fascinating example of empowering people so that they are able to earn their own living.”

A spokesman for Albright declined to say if she was aware that almost 90 percent of its distributors earn no money, even before expenses, according to the company’s own disclosures.

Activist investor Bill Ackman, who has placed a $1 billion short on Herbalife, argues that far from helping people, the company is a pyramid scheme that takes advantage of the poor.

During a conference call last month, Ackman responded to a critical question about the former secretary of state, saying, “I would encourage Madeleine Albright to do a little bit of research and make sure that she’s not tying her reputation to a pyramid scheme.”

Albright is particularly concerned about New York AG Schneiderman, according to a source familiar with her thinking. New York’s Martin Act has tough anti-pyramid language, and the AG can press criminal as well as civil charges.

In a pyramid scheme, most distributors’ profits come from recruitment, not from selling product to customers outside the network. New recruits are constantly necessary to keep the scheme afloat, as most of them will lose money and leave.

For now, Albright is sticking by Herbalife.

“The Albright Stonebridge Group has been a consultant to Herbalife for six years on international business matters,” the company said in a statement. “Secretary Albright has visited its facilities and met with the Herbalife management team and researchers. ASG has confidence in the leadership of Herbalife.”

Herbalife, whose shares have fallen roughly 30 percent this year, did not respond to requests for comment.