Milo Ventimiglia Reveals Loss of Malibu Home Amid Palisades Fire

Milo Ventimiglia opens up about the devastation his Malibu, California home suffered during the ongoing wildfires in Los Angeles.

The This is us star, 47, spoke with CBS Evening News in a Thursday, Jan. 9 broadcast about how he and his wife Jarah Mariano’s home burned down in the Palisades fire. Mariano is nine months pregnant with their first child.

The couple evacuated their home on Tuesday, January 7. They grabbed everything they could, but Ventimiglia told CBS News that everything in their baby’s nursery was destroyed. They later watched flames engulf their home via security cameras.

“I think there’s kind of a shock moment where you go, ‘Oh, this is real. This is happening,'” he said of watching the footage of their home burning down. “Then we just turn it off at a certain point. It’s like, ‘What? What is the use of continuing to watch?’ … We kind of accepted the loss.”

“You start thinking about all the memories in different parts of the house and what’s not,” Ventimiglia said. “And then you see your neighbors’ houses and everything, kind of all around, and your heart just breaks.”

“We have good friends and we have good people we work with and we will manage. We are due. Wife and baby and dog most important,” he said.

The actor who is known for his role in This is us as Jack Pearson also commented on how his recent circumstances have mirrored his character’s fate. In the show, Jack dies of smoke inhalation after the Pearson family home burns down.

“It’s not lost on me, life imitates art,” Ventimiglia said of the stark similarities.

After the episode aired in 2018, he said Black how impactful it was to film such a traumatic scene.

“There was fire right in front of me. Standing feet away from it, there were moments when the hiss of the gas fire line—it’s kind of a loud whine—would be completely overtaken by the amount of real fire, which is deep and roaring and angry and something that I hope many, many people will never have to face,” he said.

Ventimiglia later became an advocate for fire safety. As a result of the recent fires, Ventimiglia said he is now interested in advocating for wildfire safety as well.

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Over 100,000 residents are under evacuation orders as of Thursday, January 9 due to the Eaton fire and the Palisades fire. City officials reported five fatalities Wednesday, although a specific toll has not yet been determined.

Many residents, including celebrities, were forced to leave their homes. PEOPLE reported Adam Brody and Leighton Meester, Anna Faris, Cobie Smulders and Taran Killam, John Goodman, Jamie Chung and Bryan Greenberg and Jennifer Gray were among the names.

Click here to learn more about how to help the victims of the LA fires.