The daily gossip: Nicole Richie lit her hair on fire, Shawn Mendes side-eyes Taylor Swift's boyfriend, and more

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1. Nicole Richie lit her hair on fire while blowing out birthday candles
2. Shawn Mendes is suspicious of Taylor Swift's boyfriend
3. Even 'self-identified fashion fans' don't really know what the purpose of the Met Gala is
4. Steph Curry surprises wife Ayesha with vow renewal
5. Uma Thurman shares her 'darkest secret' in essay condemning the Texas abortion law

published 22 September 2021

1. Nicole Richie lit her hair on fire while blowing out birthday candles

Nicole Richie's 40s got off to quite a start. The former Simple Life star shared a wild video on Instagram from her 40th birthday celebration, in which she leans forward to blow out birthday candles but accidentally sets her hair on fire. Richie and everyone else at the party begins to scream before the video abruptly ends. "Well ... so far 40 is [fire emoji]," Richie wrote. The comments of her post were immediately filled with a mix of birthday wishes, concern, and jokes. Katy Perry wrote, "WAIT NO WAY WAIT OMG," while Queer Eye's Antoni Porowski said, "I feel awful for laughing I'm sry also happy birthday!!!" He maybe shouldn't feel too bad, though, considering Richie's husband, Joel Madden, quipped in the comments, "That's hot." Maybe next year she'll try to avoid a repeat of the incident by pulling a Mitt Romney.

The Vanity Fair lie detector video strikes again. Shawn Mendes was asked a question about a man he's never met, and couldn't get away with a polite lie, you know, because he was hooked up to a lie detector. "Do you approve of Taylor [Swift's] current boyfriend, Joe Alwyn?" the interviewer asked Mendes. "He looks like a sweet guy," the singer answered, but was then told he was being deceptive. "I mean he's kind of got a bit of a villain look about him. ... He's got really blue eyes and I struggle with eyes that blue. I find it easier to trust brown eyes," Mendes admitted. There ya have it, Swift and Alwyn might not be endgame after all.

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Basically no one knows what the point of the Met Gala is, according to an essential new poll by Morning Consult. Despite the purpose of the annual party in New York City obviously being to showcase Rihanna, some 77 percent of "self-identified fashion fans were unable to identify the Met Gala as" also being a charitable event, the poll found. Only 1 in 10 Gen Zers could correctly identify the Gala as a fundraiser, with most younger respondents (34 percent) believing it was a fashion show while another third (32 percent) simply had no idea what it was for at all. Indeed, tickets to have your outfit ruthlessly skewered by fashion bloggers start at $35,000 apiece (tables cost anywhere from $200,000 to $300,000!), with all the money going toward the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute.

Steph Curry is has the moves on and off the court. The Golden State Warrior and his wife Ayesha recently celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary, and he pulled off a surprise vow renewal. Steph picked out a Valentino dress for Ayesha and had it waiting for her, she revealed on Instagram. The couple share three children — Riley, 9, Ryan, 6, and Canon, 3 — who were also involved in the ceremony. "Our big girl Riley officiated and Ryan and Canon walked me through the grass of our backyard," Ayesha wrote. The surprise was a success: "It's everything I've always dreamed of but didn't know could be possible in this way. A moment I will never forget," Ayesha wrote. *Swoon*

Kill Bill actress Uma Thurman revealed her "darkest secret" in a powerful personal essay published in The Washington Post on Tuesday in condemnation of Texas' controversial new abortion law. "You might not be interested in the opinions of an actress, but given this new outrage, I feel it is my responsibility to stand up in" the shoes of vulnerable women, Thurman wrote, going on to reveal that "in my late teens, I was accidentally impregnated by a much older man." Thurman described making the heartbreaking decision to not go through with the pregnancy, calling it "the hardest decision of my life … but it was the path to the life full of joy and love that I have experienced." She added that "I have nothing to gain from this disclosure, and perhaps much to lose," but that "to all of you — to women and girls of Texas, afraid of being traumatized and hounded by predatory bounty hunters ... I say: I see you." Read the full essay here.

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.