Alan Devall
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Billy Crystal has lost the Pacific Palisades home he had lived in since 1979. Paris Hilton watched her Malibu beach mansion burn on live TV.
The list of celebrities who lost their homes and neighborhoods in the worst fire in Los Angeles history reads like a Hollywood who’s who.
Jamie Lee Curtis, James Woods, Mandy Moore, Mark Hamill and Maria Shriver were among those who publicly described being forced to evacuate as wildfires engulfed some of the world’s most luxurious properties.
The largest fire has consumed nearly 12,000 acres (5,000 hectares) in Pacific Palisades, home to movie, television and music stars, where the median home is worth $4.5 million.
Some have yet to come out publicly even though media houses have shared pictures of burning houses that are claimed to be theirs. They included “Gossip Girl” star Leighton Meester and her husband Adam Brody of “The OC,” two-time Oscar winner Anthony Hopkins, “Roseanne” star John Goodman, “Top Gun: Maverick” actor Miles Teller and “Scary Movie” star Anna Faris.
Perennial Oscar host Crystal and his wife, Janice, said they are heartbroken to lose the Pacific Palisades home where they raised their children and grandchildren, “but with the love of our children and friends, we will get through this.”
Media personality Hilton said she was “heartbroken beyond words” to lose her beach villa.
“Sitting with my family, watching the news and seeing our home in Malibu burn to the ground on live television is something no one should have to experience,” she wrote on X.
Woods, a two-time Oscar nominee and three-time Emmy winner, said he fled his Pacific Palisades home as the flames raged “like an inferno.”
“One day you’re swimming in the pool, and the next day it’s all gone,” he said. He broke down in tears in a TV interview as he described a niece who “came out with her little Yeti piggy bank for us to rebuild our house.”
Reality TV star Spencer Pratt posted on X: “One positive sign I saw while our house was burning was our son’s bed that was burned in the shape of a heart. A sign of how much love was in this house, so grateful for all the years and memories there with our family.”
Jennifer Grey’s daughter Stella Gregg said the “Dirty Dancing” star’s house was “burnt to the ground” but that Gray and her dog escaped.
Shriver, a journalist and former first lady of California while married to then-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, said the destruction in the luxury enclave was devastating.
“Everything is gone. Our neighborhood, our restaurants,” she wrote on X on Wednesday. “Firefighters are giving and doing their best, but this fire is huge and out of control.”
Oscar winner Curtis said “my community and maybe my home is on fire.”
“It’s a scary situation,” the actress wrote on Instagram. “Pray if you believe it, and even if you don’t, pray for those who believe.”
Moore, known for the television series “This is Us” and as the voice of Rapunzel in Disney (NYSE:) “Tangled,” said she, her family and pets are safe, but they don’t yet know the fate of their house.
“Honestly, I am in shock and numb to all that so many have lost, including my family. My children’s school is gone. Our favorite restaurants, leveled to the ground. So many friends and loved ones have also lost everything. Our community is broken, but the essence we will be here to rebuild together.”
Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker in the “Star Wars” films, said on Instagram that he evacuated his Malibu home on Tuesday night with his wife and dog.
