Tyra Banks is opening up about losing her Los Angeles home.
The supermodel, 51, revealed Monday, January 20, on Australian morning show Sunrise that she is among the many celebrities whose house burned down within the devastating wildfires that began January 7.
Banks said she and her partner, businessman Louis Bélanger-Martin, learned the sad news while in Australia, where she splits her time when not within the U.S.
“I lost my house,” the previous America’s Next Top Model host shared. “I haven’t really talked about it, but, yeah, I even have. I just didn’t need to pull loads of attention to me. I feel like there’s loads of those that need that spotlight, so I haven’t really talked about it, but I can’t sit here and never tell the reality that, yeah, we lost our house.”
As wildfires proceed to spread across the Los Angeles area, several celebrities are taking to social media to share how they’ve been affected. “Evacuated and secure with kids, dog and cats. Praying and grateful for the primary responders,” Mandy Moore wrote in a Wednesday, January 8, Instagram Story statement. In a follow-up post, she […]
Banks continued, “We were at a friend’s house here and we were celebrating and having fun. I kept checking my phone, not for my house, but for family and friends, ensuring they were evacuating and every little thing. After which I asked my partner, I used to be like, ‘I’m seeing something here, what do you’re thinking that?’ and he [nodded]. And I just pulled it together and just didn’t say anything to my friends and just stayed in that moment, after which we went home and we cried and we had our moment.”
Banks noted that she and Bélanger-Martin split their time between Australia and Latest York, so most of her belongings are secure. “A whole lot of those memento-mementos are here and in Latest York, so I didn’t lose that, thank goodness,” she said. “There have been some mementos that we lost … it’s tough.”
Fueled by powerful Santa Ana wind gusts and dry conditions, the wildfires decimated 1000’s of homes, displacing residents across Los Angeles, and killed no less than 25 people. In response to the Associated Press, the fires burned through 63 square miles of land.
Stars including Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag, Paris Hilton and Billy Crystal also lost their homes within the fires.
Rodin Eckenroth/FilmMagic; Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images Many reality TV personalities evacuated Los Angeles amid the continued wildfires that began within the Pacific Palisades on Tuesday, January 7. “My heart goes out to those impacted by the fires here in L.A. County,” former Bachelorette Katie Thurston wrote via Instagram Story on Wednesday, January 8. “Waking up this […]
“I didn’t know what to do,” Montag told Us Weekly on Wednesday, January 15, referring to the moment she realized she and her family needed to flee the uncontrolled fire burning through the Pacific Palisades. “Nothing could have prepared me for that … You simply can’t wrap your head around it. I began just packing things that made sense — I wasn’t really excited about anything.”
Montag revealed that in a panic, her priority when packing up their lives was “the youngsters’ stuff.” (The Hills alum and Pratt share children Gunnar, 7, and Ryker, 2.)
“I even have no photos,” Montag said. “I even have all these photo albums that I made for Spencer before there was Instagram and TikTok and iPhone. These photos [that] I’ll never have again. All these sentimental things are only gone, you realize?”
Check the LAFD website for local wildfire alerts and click on here for resources on the best way to help those affected.
