‘That’s hot’: Nicole Richie accidentally set her hair on fire on her 40th birthday

The reality star posted a video of the moment on Instagram

Nicole Richie’s 40th birthday celebrations went up in flames after she accidentally set her hair on fire while blowing out candles on her cake.

The Simple Life star posted a video of the dramatic moment on her Instagram account, with the caption: “Well… so far 40 is [fire emoji].”

The video showed Richie leaning forward to blow out the candles, but the bottom ends of her curly hair caught fire on two of the flames.

A person sitting to her left quickly put the flames out on that side, but Richie is seen screaming as the flames on the right side of her middle-parted hair quickly grew.

The video ends abruptly, but it appears the reality star was unhurt and her family and friends were quick to joke about the incident.

Musician Joel Madden, Richie’s husband since 2010, quoted her ex-Simple Life co-star and wrote: “That’s hot.”

Meanwhile, Richie’s brother-in-law Benjamin Madden, who is married to Cameron Diaz, wished her a happy birthday, adding: “Love you and thankful for you always. Stay lit.”

Hilton herself wrote: “OMFG. Happy Birthday Bill! Hope you’re ok! Love you.”

Other celebrities left comments on the video, with Kelly Rowland commenting that her “heart just dropped” and Amy Schumer adding: “Oh my gawwwd.”

However, it appears this was not the first time Richie accidentally set fire to her hair.

Her hairstylist, Gregory Russell, commented: “STOP!!! AGAIN?!?!”, to which Richie replied: “I’ll start a Pinterest board for new haircuts. Start thinking of cute curly bobs.”

After The Simple Life ended in 2007, Richie continued appearing in television shows, including reality competition series Fashion Star and her own comedy series, Candidly Nicole.

She also founded the Richie Madden Children’s Foundation with her husband in 2007 to support disadvantaged young mothers and children, and continues to be involved in outreach programmes with various organisations, including the Red Cross and UNICEF.

She and Madden share a daughter, Harlow, born in January 2008 and a son, Sparrow, born September 2009.