LA celebrities lose homes, share reactions to wildfires

Jan 11, 2025 - 10:33

Jeff Bridges, who has starred in True Grit and Hell or High Water, lost a home he inherited from his parents

Jeff Bridges and Mel Gibson are among the celebrities who have lost homes in the deadly wildfires raging in the Los Angeles area.

US actor Bridges, who won an Oscar for Crazy Heart and stars in the TV series The Old Man, has lost his home in Malibu which he and his siblings inherited from their parents.

Oscar-winning film star Mel Gibson also revealed his Malibu home has been "completely toasted" while he was away recording Joe Rogan's podcast.

A series of major wind-driven fires in California have killed 11 people, ravaged communities, and sent thousands of people frantically fleeing their properties, including areas dotted with celebrity homes.

Thousands of structures have been destroyed as six separate blazes burn in and around the city, which is dotted with film stars' mansions.

Which other celebrities have lost their homes?

Getty Images Split picture of Paris Hilton and Adam Brody — ***Paris Hilton and Adam Brody are among the US stars to have lost their homes***

Paris Hilton, Billy Crystal, Adam Brody and Milo Ventimiglia are among other celebrities who have lost homes.

Ventimiglia, best known for his roles in Gilmore Girls and Heroes, was filmed returning to his burnt out home.

"You start thinking about all the memories in the different parts of the house and whatnot," said Ventimiglia on CBS Evening News. "Then you see your neighbours' houses and everything around, and your heart just breaks."

Actor Milo Ventimiglia and his pregnant wife Jarah lost their home in the Los Angeles wildfires.

Ventimiglia and his wife left their home on Tuesday and watched on security cameras as the flames took over.

The 47-year-old acknowledged that his character, Jack Pearson, in TV series This Is Us suffers from smoke inhalation after his home burns down in the hit series. "It's not lost on me, life imitating art," he said.

Hotel heiress Hilton confirmed earlier this week she had lost her home in Malibu.

In a new Instagram post on Friday, Hilton uploaded a video of what was left of her home. "The heartbreak is truly indescribable," she said. "It's devastating beyond words.

"This isn't just my story," she continued. "So many people have lost everything. It's not just walls and roofs - it's the memories that made those houses homes. It's the photos, the keepsakes, the irreplaceable pieces of our lives

"And yet, in this pain, I know I'm incredibly lucky. My loved ones, my babies, and my pets are safe."

Hilton also thanked "the fire fighters, first responders and volunteers risking their lives to fight these fires".

Rosie O'Donnell, a former co-host for The View, also lost her home in Malibu.

"On PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) in Malibu - the whole of beach front homes gone - including the one i lived in," she wrote in a post on TikTok.

Some of the worst devastation was in the scenic enclave of Pacific Palisades, where a wind-whipped inferno exploded from several hundred acres to more than 15,000 in size since Tuesday.

A swathe of the neighbourhood, which is a haven of hillside streets nestled against the Santa Monica Mountains and winding down to beaches along the Pacific Ocean, was reduced to ash.

Actor James Woods, who starred in films including Nixon and Casino, broke down in tears on CNN as he described losing his Pacific Palisades property.

"One day you're swimming in the pool and the next day it's all gone," he told the network.

Actor Billy Crystal said in a statement that he and his wife Janice were "heartbroken" by the loss of their Pacific Palisades home where they had lived since 1979.

Getty Images Actor Billy Crystal smiles as he is photographed a red carpet event. He has grey hair and a heard and wears a dark suit.

The When Harry Met Sally star said in a statement: "We raised our children and grandchildren here.

"Every inch of our house was filled with love. Beautiful memories that can't be taken away.

"We are heartbroken of course but with the love of our children and friends we will get through this."

A home reportedly belonging to Adam Brody, who stars in hit Netflix show Nobody Wants This, and Gossip Girl star wife Leighton Meester, was also destroyed.

Jurassic World actress Daniella Pineda also lost her home, saying she escaped as the fire took over with only her dog and laptop.

"I have one pair of shoes to my name," she said. "I'm grateful to be alive. People really show up for one another when disaster hits."

The Hills stars Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag, who are married, also lost their home in the blaze.

"I'm watching our house burn down on the security cameras," Pratt posted.

Montag said: "So our house is on fire and we were able to get out in time, but I keep going over and over in my mind of the things I should've got, but we're out safe and that is the most important thing, and Spencer is behind me."

In a later post, she said while tearing up that she was "so sad our house has gone" and they had lost "everything we worked so hard for".

Singer and This Is Us actress Mandy Moore posted a video of the scene of destruction as she evacuated. "Grateful for my family and pets getting out last night before it was too late (and endless gratitude to friends for taking us in and bringing us clothes and blankets).

"Honestly, I'm in shock and feeling numb for all so many have lost, including my family. My children's school is gone.

"Our favourite restaurants, levelled. So many friends and loved ones have lost everything too. Our community is broken but we will be here to rebuild together."

TV host Ricki Lake told followers she had lost her "dream home", adding: "I grieve along with all of those suffering during this apocalyptic event."

Actors Sir Anthony Hopkins, John Goodman, Anna Faris and Cary Elwes also reportedly lost their homes.

Getty Images Miles Teller and Keleigh Sperry attend the 2025 Golden Globe Awards — ***Miles Teller and Keleigh Sperry***

Miles Teller, best known for his role in Top Gun: Maverick, and his wife, Keleigh Sperry, reportedly lost their home in the Pacific Palisades.

Posting on Instagram, Sperry shared a picture of the fires and a broken heart emoji.

She urged people to leave bowls of water for animals left behind as they evacuate their homes.

Other stars forced to flee include Star Wars' actor Mark Hamill and Schitt's Creek actor Eugene Levy.

In a post on Instagram, Hamill called the blaze the "most horrific" since 1993, when 18,000 acres burned, destroying 323 homes in Malibu.

He said he had evacuated his Malibu house "so last-minute there [were] small fires on both sides of the road".

Getty Images Eugene Levy attends the Emmy Awards wearing a purple tie, pink shirt and dark suit — ***Eugene Levy described black smoke appearing on the horizon before he evacuated***

Levy described to local media "black and intense" smoke over Temescal Canyon.

"I couldn't see any flames but the smoke was very dark," he told the Los Angeles Times.

Jamie Lee Curtis said her home was safe but the situation was "gnarly".

"Obviously, there have been horrific fires in many places," she said. "This is literally where I live. Everything the market, I shop in, the schools my kids go to. Friends - many, many, many friends - now have lost their homes."

Curtis and her husband, fellow actor Christopher Guest, pledged $1m (£800,000) "to start a fund of support for our great city and state and the great people who live and love there".

Actor Cameron Mathison also shared a clip of his house reduced to smouldering ruins. "We are safe. But this is what's left of our beautiful home," the General Hospital star wrote.

"Our home where our kids were raised and where they wanted to raise their own someday."

Two maps that show the scale of the area burnt by the Paliside wildfire by imposing the area in red on top of the centres of New York and London.

Legendary songwriter Diane Warren, who composed classic hits including If I Could Turn Back Time and I Don't Want to Miss a Thing, also lost her home.

She posted a picture of the beachfront near her house, saying that the property she's had for close to three decades was gone.

Grammy-nominated R&B singer and rapper Jhené Aiko took to Instagram to share that her home was burned to the ground.

"Starting from scratch. My heart is so heavy," she wrote with a broken heart emoji.

Actor Steve Guttenberg, known for Police Academy, stayed to help firefighters by moving cars to clear a path for incoming fire trucks.

He urged fellow Pacific Palisades residents to leave the keys in their abandoned cars so they could be moved.

Meanwhile, the Palisades Charter High School - used in the 1976 horror classic Carrie - has been devastated.

The Oscar nominations have been postponed by two days because of the fires, and other star-studded events were also cancelled.

Film premieres for Unstoppable, Better Man and Wolfman have been called off, as has the Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations announcement.

Meanwhile, a new blaze broke out on Wednesday night, the Sunset fire, in the Hollywood Hills, near where the world-famous Hollywood sign nestles in the hillside.

Several other celebrities fled the city to escape the fires.

Singer songwriter Dua Lipa revealed in a post on her Instagram stories that she fled the city and is safe.

She described the scene as "absolutely devastating and scary couple of days in LA"

"Thinking of all my friends and the people of the city who had to evacuate their homes," she wrote.

Take That singer, Mark Owen and his family also fled from the fires. His wife Emma Ferguson said the couple and their children and pets had to evacuate after waking up to "helicopters, thick black smoke, winds howling, and that the uncertainty that our house would survive".

"I'm not sure what our next step is. Right now, I'm just heavy and tired," she said.