Usually, we talk about them more for their impressive sizes or their extravagant decorations. This time, it’s because they are nothing more than a pile of ashes. Many homes of Hollywood stars have gone up in smoke in the fires that have ravaged California since Tuesday, January 7. Residents of the upscale Hollywood and Pacific Palisades neighborhoods were ordered to evacuate, like more than 100,000 others, forced to flee their homes in disaster. According to police, five people died in these fires and several were injured. The fire has already ravaged, according to Reuters, nearly 4,800 hectares and destroyed more than a thousand buildings.
Among them, the houses belonging to Billy Cristal and the couple formed by Adam Brody and Leighton Meester. Brody, known for his roles in television series The O.C. et Nobody Wants This, and Leighton Meester, who starred in Gossip Girl, purchased their Pacific Palisades home in 2019 for $6.5 million, according to real estate and entertainment websites. Billy Crystal and his wife, Janice, who also lost their home, said in a statement that they had lived in the neighborhood since 1979. “We are heartbroken, of course, but with the love of our children and our friends, we will get through this”they added.
Reality TV star Paris Hilton was also hit hard. His beachfront Malibu mansion, purchased for $8.4 million, was among the buildings burned. She stated that she “heartbroken beyond words”. “Sitting with my family, watching the news and seeing our house in Malibu burn on live TV: that’s something no one should ever have to experience.”she wrote on X.
Resident of Pacific Palisades, Johnny Hallyday’s widow, Laeticia Hallyday, also expressed sadness at her house reduced to dust: “We lost everything… There’s nothing left. I saw our house go to ashes, helpless in the face of the flames which took everything away. This video haunts my heart. It wasn’t just a house… It was our refuge, our rebirth after the chaos of grief.”
-A major Hollywood figure, Anthony Hopkins also saw his $6 million, five-bathroom villa destroyed by flames in Pacific Palisades. Everything except a first for the interpreter of Hannibal Lecter. According to the Daily Mail, his former home narrowly escaped the Woolsey fire which broke out in Malibu in 2018. Across the Atlantic, in 2000, the Welsh actor also lost his London home to the flames . Jamie Lee Curtis, winner of an Oscar in 2023, also takes stock of her unenviable situation: “My community and maybe my house are on fire.” “It’s a terrifying situation”she wrote on Instagram, asking for her audience’s thoughts: “Pray if you believe it and even if you don’t believe it, pray for those who do.”
The fire, still ongoing and difficult to control due to the violent winds sweeping the city, is consuming the inhabitants, some of whom are still uncertain about the damage caused. Mandy Moore, known for the television series This is Usand evacuated with her family declared on Instagram: “I don’t know if our house made it through.” Actor Mark Hamill, famous for playing Luke Skywalker in the films Star Warswho left his Malibu home with his wife and dog Tuesday evening, said on Instagram that the fire was “the most horrible” since 1993. «Il [y avait] small fires on both sides of the road as we approached [de la Pacific Coast Highway]»he clarified.
On Wednesday, the day after leaving Pacific Palisades, actor James Woods noted that “all the houses around […] were on fire”. “We were literally at the epicenter of the fire when it broke out”said the one who is known for his roles in Ghosts of Mississippi et Any Given Sundayon CNN. “There was such chaos. It was like an inferno.” Among those happy about this fire, the actor Ben Affleck, actor of Batman, who was able to breathe a sigh of relief when he discovered that his house had survived the flames after leaving it on Tuesday.
