Mel Gibson, Jeff Bridges and Billy Crystal are among those who have lost homes in the Los Angeles fires. Photo: AFP
Mel Gibson's home in Malibu was destroyed by the Los Angeles wildfires while he was away recording a podcast with Joe Rogan in Austin, Texas, Gibson has revealed.
The Oscar-winning actor and director shared the news during a telephone interview with NewsNation's Elizabeth Vargas Reports.
Gibson said he was doing okay in the wake of the destruction.
"Obviously, it's kind of devastating. It's emotional," he said.
"You live there for a long time, and you had all your stuff. You remember [comedian] George Carlin talking about your stuff? I had my stuff there, and it's all like, I've been relieved from the burden of my stuff because it's all in cinders."
This aerial photo shows homes and businesses reduced to rubble by the Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Photo: AFP / DAVID SWANSON
Gibson said he was "ill at ease" during the podcast with Rogan because he was aware that his neighbourhood was on fire.
"When I got home, sure enough, [the house] wasn't there," he told Vargas.
"I went home and I said to myself, 'Well at least I haven't got any of those pesky plumbing problems anymore.'"
He said he and his girlfriend had evacuated, but she stayed in California while he went to Texas to do the podcast.
"I have never seen a place so perfectly burned," Gibson said of his destroyed home.
"You could put it in an urn."
Smoke and flames from the Palisades Fire burn toward the Encino neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Photo: AFP / AGUSTIN PAULLIER
Other celebrities, including Milo Ventimiglia, Mandy Moore, Billy Crystal, Jeff Bridges, Paris Hilton, Ricki Lake and Miles Teller's wife Keleigh have opened up about losing their homes.
Moore shared an update on Instagram Thursday, writing that she was able to visit her Altadena home and "bear witness to all this loss," including in the post three photos of what's left of her residence.
"Miraculously, the main part of our house is still standing. For now. It's not livable but mostly intact," Moore wrote.
Billy Crystal in City Slickers. Photo: Roadshow
She added that they lost their garage and back house to the fire.
In a statement to CNN on Wednesday, Crystal said, "Words cannot describe the enormity of the devastation we are witnessing and experiencing. We ache for our friends and neighbours who have also lost their homes and businesses in this tragedy."
"Janice and I lived in our home since 1979. We raised our children and grandchildren here. Every inch of our house was filled with love. Beautiful memories that can't be taken away," he added.
Photo: AFP / Zoe Meyers
"We are heartbroken of course but with the love of our children and friends, we will get through this. We pray for the safety of the fire fighters (sic) and first responders. The Pacific Palisades is a resilient community of amazing people and we know in time it will rise again. It is our home."
The family beach home belonging to Oscar-winning actor Bridges was also destroyed by fire.
He and his loved ones are safe, according to his representative.
Actor and former talk show host Lake shared on her Instagram page Wednesday that she lost her "dream home" in the fires, writing,
"It's all gone."
"It was our heaven on earth. The place where we planned to grow old together. We never took our heavenly spot on the bluff overlooking our beloved Malibu for granted, not even for one second," she wrote.
Lake added that she is grieving the "immeasurable" loss of her home, where she and her husband wed three years ago.
- CNN
