Nicole Richie has revealed that her 40th birthday party was—quite literally—lit, as she shared footage of her hair catching alight.
The former Great News star, whose big day fell on Tuesday, took to Instagram on the night of her birthday to share video footage of herself blowing out the candles dotted around her personalized cake.
But the traditional celebratory gesture quickly escalated into hair-raising moment, when her honey-brown tresses fell into the candle flames as she leaned forward.
On realizing that something was amiss, Richie screamed as she attempted to bat out the flames, while a party attendee stretched their hand across to help.
As the flames rapidly crawled up one side of actress and fashion designer Richie's hair, the seconds-long video clip came to an abrupt end.
Captioning the footage, the mother-of-two kept things lighthearted as she quipped: "Well... so far 40 is 🔥."
Not missing a beat, her husband, Joel Madden revived the oft-uttered catchphrase Richie and her one-time BFF Paris Hilton used on their aughts' reality show, The Simple Life, as he wrote: "That's hot."
Good Charlotte singer Madden also marked his wife's birthday with a heartfelt post on his own Instagram account.
He captioned a black-and-white photo of Richie sitting on his shoulders: "Happy Birthday Nicole❤️ You've made love feel timeless I've forgotten how old we are ❤️🥰."
Richie's dad, legendary singer Lionel Richie, marked his daughter's big day with a series of throwback photos of them together.
He wrote: "It's showtime !! ⭐️ @nicolerichie You have been rainbows 🌈 and butterflies 🦋 your whole life ... but you will always be my little girl, no matter how many birthdays we celebrate 🎉 !! 🎂"
The birthday girl's model sister, Sofia Richie, also got in on the Instagram messages, stating in a post of her own: "So lucky to call you my big sis. I love you beyond words @nicolerichie HBD 👸🏼."
Meanwhile, Hilton shared a promotional image from The Simple Life, which showed her posing alongside Nicole Richie, as she wrote: "Happy birthday @nicolerichie! Love you."
Nicole Richie has been married to Madden since 2010 and they share two children—daughter Harlow, 13, and son Sparrow, 12.
During a recent interview with Entertainment Tonight, Nicole Richie said she would be "fine" with her offspring following in her reality TV footsteps.
She told the outlet: "I think it would be a different thing going into it now, it just depends on what it is.
"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."
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