Mel Gibson says he lost his Malibu home to the ongoing Los Angeles wildfires while he was recording an episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast. The controversial and award-winning actor/director opened up about the experience during an interview with NewsNation’s “Elizabeth Vargas Reports.”
“I was kind of ill at ease while we were talking [on the podcast] because I knew my neighborhood was on fire. So I was like, ‘Eh, I wonder if my place is still there.’ But when I got home, sure enough it wasn’t there,” Gibson told Vargas on Thursday. “I got home and I said to myself, ‘At least I don’t have any of those pesky plumbing problems anymore.’”
Gibson was already in Austin, Texas, to record the podcast before the fires started in earnest. However, he did note that the wind was picking up during his flight out of California. Gibson’s partner Rosalind Ross was in L.A. when the fires started but evacuated before their home was destroyed. Surprisingly, the chickens Gibson and Ross keep on their property survived.
Gibson also revealed that actor Ed Harris, who is one of his neighbors, lost his home. “I think his place is gone and many of my friends up and down the street,” the “Braveheart” actor elaborated.
Repeatedly throughout the NN interview, Gibson joked about his loss, saying that he is now “relieved from the burden of my stuff because it’s all in cinders” and that “you can put it in an urn.” He also likened his destroyed home to the bombing of Dresden and asked Vargas if she wanted to buy the property. But by the end of the interview, Gibson became more sincere.
“It’s emotional. I lived there for about 14, 15 years, so it was home to me. I had a lot of personal things there that I can’t get back,” he said. “That can all be replaced. These are only things. The good news is those in my family and those I love are all well, and we’re all happy and healthy and we’re out of harm’s way.”
Many celebrities have lost their homes due to the L.A. fires, including Milo Ventimiglia, Harvey Guillen, John C. Reilly, Cobie Smulders, Taran Killam, Eugene Levy, Anna Faris, Anthony Hopkins, Adam Brody and Leighton Meester, to name a few of the many who have been impacted by this devastation.
