Nicole Richie smacked in the face by 'notoriously clumsy' interviewer, handles it OK

Yep, that actually happened. 

Nicole Richie got slapped in the face after an epic high-five fail with Talk Stoop host Cat Greenleaf during a chat promoting the star's new scripted show, Great News.

Not only did Lionel Richie's daughter take one right in the grill, but the smack sent the 35-year-old's (no-doubt expensive) sunglasses flying. 

The build-up was almost as priceless as the incident itself as Nicole began to reel out her "greatest news I've heard all week". 

"I've heard it's going to rain three times this week, so that's pretty…"

AND….



Cat was quick to apologise to the clearly taken-aback Nicole. But the damage was already done. 

"I'm sorry," Cat said, her face white with fear. "I'm notoriously clumsy."

"I can see that -- out of my left eye, only," Nicole responded, her face just all-round shocked.

To be fair, Nicole handled it super graciously. So much so, in fact, for a second there we wondered if it could have been staged.  

The new series tells the story of an up-and-coming news producer and her overbearing mother, starring Briga Heelan and Andrea Martin. Nicole plays a news host who hopefully doesn't slap people.