Tyra Banks is opening up about losing her Los Angeles home.
The supermodel, 51, shared on Australian morning show Sunrise that her house burned down in the devastating wildfires that started on January 7. Banks revealed the news on Monday, January 20.
While in Australia with her partner, businessman Louis Bélanger-Martin, Banks received the sad news of the loss of their home. The former America’s Next Top Model host splits her time between Australia and the U.S.
Speaking about the tragedy, Banks expressed her reluctance to bring attention to herself during a time when many others are also in need. She acknowledged the loss of their house, stating, “I can’t sit here and not tell the truth that, yeah, we lost our house.”
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 friends and family, making sure they were evacuating and everything. And then I asked my partner, I was like, ‘I’m seeing something here, what do you think?’ and he [nodded]. And I just pulled it together and just didn’t say anything to my friends and just stayed in that moment, and then we went home and we cried and we had our moment.”
Banks noted that she and Bélanger-Martin split their time between Australia and New York, so most of her belongings are safe. “A lot of those memento-mementos are here and in New York, so I didn’t lose that, thank goodness,” she said. “There were some mementos that we lost … it’s tough.”
Fueled by powerful Santa Ana wind gusts and dry conditions, the wildfires decimated thousands of homes, displacing residents across Los Angeles, and killed at least 25 people. According 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 in the fires.
“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 had to flee the uncontrolled fire burning through the Pacific Palisades. “Nothing could have prepared me for that … You just can’t wrap your head around it. I started just packing things that made sense — I wasn’t really thinking about anything else.”
Montag revealed that in a panic, her priority when packing up their lives was “the kids’ stuff.” (The Hills alum and Pratt share children Gunnar, 7, and Ryker, 2.)
“I have no photos,” Montag said. “I 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 just gone, you know?”
Check the LAFD website for local wildfire alerts and click here for resources on how to help those affected.
