James Woods breaks down in tears after his LA home burns in wildfires

James Woods is mourning the loss of his newly renovated Pacific Palisades home.

In the wake of the wildfires still raging through Southern California, Vampires The actor fought back tears as he spoke about evacuating his Los Angeles property, which he now knows has been destroyed by the flames.

“Our beautiful little house,” Woods lamented during one on-air interview with CNN‘s Pamela Brown. He explained that he and his wife, Sara Miller-Woods, spent much of the COVID-19 pandemic living in a hotel before extending their stay while their home was renovated. They returned to permanent space last month.

“We finally got it done and we were swimming every day and my blood pressure was going down,” Woods recounted, his voice cracking with emotion. “If you ever saw the view from that house before this fire, they were just… It was paradise. And our neighbors, we knew them all.”

He added: “One day you’re swimming in the pool and the next day it’s all gone.”

Woods also spoke about the evacuation of his neighborhood, saying that after he and his wife were forced to leave their home with only “the clothes on their backs,” he became concerned about their 94-year-old neighbor, who has dementia and lives alone. To confirm his safety, Woods contacted police to request a wellness check. He claims authorities found the elderly man still at home in his pantry.

“He was left alone,” Woods said. “There was so much chaos, it was like an inferno. Every house was in flames around us.”

On the neighbor’s current status, he confirmed: “He’s okay. They found him, he’s in the hospital, he’s great.”

At another point, Woods became emotional as he described his 9-year-old niece’s reaction to learning his home had burned down.

“She came out with her little Yeti piggy bank for us to rebuild our house,” he shared.

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As the conversation progressed, Woods became overwhelmed more than once and apologized to Brown as he needed a moment to calm down.

“I thought I’d be stronger than this,” Woods said, wiping tears from his eyes.

“Strength is not measured by whether or not you hold back crying,” Brown replied. “Strength is what you do now to help your neighbors and shine a light on the great, amazing work that all these firefighters and emergency crews are doing.”

California Governor Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency as several wildfires continue to blaze through Los Angeles County. The largest of the fires, the Palisades Fire, broke out near the Pacific Palisades neighborhood Tuesday morning and has burned at least 2,900 hectares. According to Associated Press30,000 residents have been instructed to evacuate.

On Tuesday, the Nixon and Virgin suicide the actor used social media to document the evacuation, sharing photos he took before fleeing his home and additional photos per security cameras around his home.

“To all the wonderful people who have reached out to us, thank you for being so concerned. Just letting you know we were able to evacuate successfully,” Woods wrote Tuesday night. “I don’t know at the moment if our home is still standing, but unfortunately houses on our little street don’t.”

In a subsequent post, he acknowledged his newly renovated home but added“There is no possession as priceless as friends and good neighbors during a tragedy. I cannot believe the blessings we enjoy and I am humbly grateful.”

The actor, who has not appeared in a film since being dropped by his agent in 2017, also continued to deny that the raging fires are in any way related to climate changecalls an X user a “liberal idiot” to suggest otherwise.

“This fire is not from ‘climate change,’ you ignorant asshole,” he wrote. “That’s because liberal idiots like you elect liberal idiots like Gavin Newsom and Karen Bass. One doesn’t understand the first thing about fire management and the other can’t fill the water reservoirs.”

Woods most recently served as a producer on Christopher Nolan’s Best Picture-winning blockbuster, Oppenheimer. After the film’s Oscar triumph, he admitted that he was asked to “basically remain invisible” when it came to his involvement in the film, due to his vocal support for President-elect Donald Trump.

“I just stepped back and basically took one for the team,” Woods said in 2024.