Nicole Richie's Hair Catches Fire During 40th Birthday Celebration

Nicole Richie had a rather fiery celebration for her 40th birthday. "The Simple Life" star ended up setting her hair on fire while blowing out the candles on her birthday cake at an outdoor party.

Richie posted a video of the incident on Instagram. In the clip, she can be seen sitting at a table. In front of her is a birthday cake, which features her childhood photo, a simple dedication that reads, "Happy Birthday Nicole," with 10 small candles on it.

But as she leans in to blow out the candles, her blonde tresses, which she's wearing down, manage to catch fire. Stylist Liat Baruch can then be seen reaching her hand over to put out the fire on the left side of Richie's head. However, the fire on her right side keeps burning.

Thankfully, the actress did not suffer any burns and she was even able to laugh off the entire incident. In fact, she shared the video with a quirky caption. She wrote, "Well… so far 40 is _ "

Richie's husband, Joel Madden, also took a dig at his wife as he wrote, "That's hot," on the post.

Meanwhile, American fashion entrepreneur Katherine Power expressed her shock, commenting, "A moment I'll never forget."

Richie and Madden have been married for over a decade now and have two children together — Harlow Winter Kate, 13, and Sparrow James Midnight, 11.

In July, Richie opened up about her experience as a mother during the pandemic.

"I've just learned to listen, to really take a pause and listen, I've always stressed that going outside and being in nature is important, but it really became a true necessity once everyone was locked into their computers, Zoom work, all of the things. We really had to make an effort to go outside and be in nature and connect to the earth. I think that is something we have to prioritize in our lives," she said in an interview with People.

The actress went on to explain that while Harlow and Sparrow had "completely different experiences" during the quarantine, the "one through-line was — especially last school year — it was really hard."

"We were all in shock and everyone was trying to figure out how to make it work," she said. "Everything was happening at once and I think everyone was just trying to make it work, and then we had the summer to kind of prepare for that new [school] year and the kids, they just did it. They gave it their all. ... It just really made me so proud of them."