Nicole Richie's hair catches fire during birthday celebration

Nicole Richie's hair set on fire as she was blowing out the candles on a birthday cake.

The TV star celebrated her 40th birthday on Tuesday (Sept 21), and she was given a spectacular-looking cake for the landmark occasion.

However, Nicole's birthday celebrations took a dramatic turn when she was blowing out the candles and the flames caught the tip of her hair.

Nicole then began to scream in fear, as the flames increased in size and she desperately tried to put them out using her hands.

The Simple Life star was also helped by her friends and family, who had joined her for the celebrations, and no one was seriously hurt in the incident, according to Entertainment Tonight.

Nicole has posted a video clip of the scary moment on her Instagram page.

She captioned the video: "Well… so far 40 is [fire emojis] (sic)"

Some of Nicole's showbiz pals quickly took to Instagram to respond to the dramatic video, and to ask whether she was now okay.

Naomi Campbell said: "Happy birthday Cuz, are you ok Cuz? May reign on is all. [hearts and cake emojis] (sic)"

Amy Schumer wrote in reply: "Oh my gawwwd (sic)"

Katy Perry said: "WAIT NO WAY WAIT OMG (sic)"

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Elsewhere, former Destiny's Child star Kelly Rowland wrote: "My heart just dropped!!!! (sic)"

And Ellen Pompeo - who is best known for her starring role in Grey's Anatomy - replied on social media: "HBD!!! I hope you're okay! [heart emoji] (sic)"

Meanwhile, Nicole previously explained what she loved about shooting The Simple Life.

The TV star appeared in the hit show alongside Paris Hilton, and she enjoyed that it never became overly intrusive.

She said: "I think one of my favourite things about The Simple Life and one of my favourite things about doing it was, it really took us out of our everyday lives and put us in somebody else's world.

"So I was always able to maintain a level of privacy and able to have my own life."