American actor Mel Gibson has revealed that he lost his home in the Los Angeles wildfires while he was in Austin filming a podcast episode with Joe Rogan.
Over the past week, out-of-control wildfires have ripped across parts of Los Angeles, destroying thousands of homes and businesses, as well as burning through tens of thousands of acres.
At least 10 people have now died as a result of the various wildfires, according to the county coroner's office, while thousands of people have been forced to evacuate their homes, with many of them burning down.
One of the homes destroyed in Malibu belongs to Mel Gibson.
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The 69-year-old, best known for starring in films such as Lethal Weapon, Braveheart and Ransom, has since opened up to NewsNation about losing the home he had lived in for around 15 years.
“Obviously, it’s kind of devastating. It’s emotional,” he told Elizabeth Vargas. “You live there for a long time, and you had all your stuff... I’ve been relieved from the burden of my stuff, because it’s all in cinders.”
Gibson also revealed that he was in Texas filming a podcast with Joe Rogan as the wildfires ripped through LA.
“I was doing the Rogan podcast and [I was] kind of ill at ease while we were talking, because I knew my neighborhood was on fire, so I thought, I wonder if my place is still there," he said.
"But when I got home, sure enough, it wasn’t there. I went home and I said to myself, well, at least I haven’t got any of those pesky plumbing problems anymore.”
He added: “I had a lot of personal things there that I can’t get back. All kinds of stuff, everything from photographs to files to just personal things that I had from over the years, and clothing. But you know that can all be replaced.
“These are only things. And the good news is that, those in my family and those I love are all well, and we’re all happy and healthy and out of harm’s way, that’s all I can care about, really.”
Last year, Joe Rogan was chatting to Sam Morril in an episode of The Joe Rogan Experience when he recalled a conversation with a fireman about how wildfires could get out of hand in California.
Rogan began: "I talked to a fireman once... 'One day, it's just gonna be the right wind and fire's gonna start in the right place and it's gonna burn through LA all the way to the ocean and there's not a f**king thing we can do about it'.
"He said, 'If the wind hits the wrong way, it's just going to burn straight through LA and there's not a thing we can do about it'."
On the dry Los Angeles climate, Rogan added: "These fires are so big... once it happens, it happens in a way that it's so spread out that there's nothing they can do."
What's more, in 2018, Rogan told Derren Brown the same story while wildfires burned across Ventura County, where he used to live.
A year later, he shared the warning with journalist David Wallace-Wells, noting how California wildfires are projected to worsen dramatically by the end of the century.
Topics: Joe Rogan
Jack Kenmare