Nicole Richie Accidentally Sets Her Hair on Fire While Blowing Out 40th Birthday Candles

Katie Campione
·3 min read
Nicole Richie
Nicole Richie

Nicole Richie/instagram

Nicole Richie is on fire — literally!

The star celebrated her 40th birthday on Tuesday, and marked the milestone day with an outdoor get together that involved some special dessert.

In a video shared on Instagram, Richie sat at a table with a birthday cake in front of her. The sweet treat had a throwback photo of the fashion designer and read "Happy Birthday Nicole" in white frosting.

But as Richie leaned in to blow out the candles, her hair managed to catch fire.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by NICOLE RICHIE (@nicolerichie)

RELATED: Nicole Richie Says She Learned to 'Take a Pause and Listen' as Mom to Her Two Children

She pulled back from the cake to notice the tips of her hair aflame, and let out a scream as she and someone next to her batted out the flames.

For more on Nicole Richie's 40th birthday Instagram post and other top stories, listen below to our daily podcast PEOPLE Every Day.

"Well… so far 40 is 🔥" she captioned the post.

Richie's husband Joel Madden joked "that's hot" in the comments section.

Richie and Madden share daughter Harlow Winter Kate, 13, and son Sparrow James Midnight, 11. In July, Richie spoke to PEOPLE about her experience as a mother during the pandemic.

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"I've just learned to listen, to really take a pause and listen," she told PEOPLE. "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."

Richie added that Harlow and Sparrow had "completely different experiences" in quarantine, however, the "one through line was — especially last school year — it was really hard."

RELATED: Nicole Richie Shares Rare Throwback Photo of Daughter Harlow at 3 Months: 'Favorite Girl'

"We were all in shock and everyone was trying to figure out how to make it work," she said, adding, "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."

During a recent interview with Entertainment Tonight, Richie revealed how she'd feel if her kids were to appear on reality TV. She said that once they turn 18, she would be "fine with it."

"I think it would be a different thing going into it now, it just depends on what it is," the former Simple Life star said of the current world of reality TV.

"But if my kids said to me, 'I want to try this new thing that hasn't been done before.' You just say... Well, obviously now they're preteen, so I'm going to say no. But yeah, if they're 18 and they want to go do whatever it is, as long as it feels good and authentic to them, I'm fine with it," Richie shared.

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