Oscar-winning Australian director and actor Mel Gibson has reflected on how he felt knowing he had lost almost everything when his $14.5 million mansion burned to the ground in the Los Angeles fires.
Gibson, 69, discovered his home had been consumed by fire just before he sat down to record an appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast on Friday and has since opened up to Fox host Laura Ingraham, where he took a view philosophy of tragedy.
“These are things and they may or may not be replaceable, but we’re still here and I just look at it in a strange way, like a purification,” he said. he told Fox News.
After learning that his house was about to be destroyed, the actor said he rushed back to the Malibu mansion with his son to grab everything they could before it all turned to ashes.
He said the couple only escaped with their passports and some other important documents while their artworks and books, some of which were from the 16th century and were priceless, were destroyed in the flames.
‘It reminds me of the old cattle barns that cleared people off the land. I don’t know… it just seemed a bit convenient that there was no water.’
‘The wind conditions and the fact that there were people ready, willing and able to start fires. And are they in charge of doing so or do they simply act of their own free will?
At least 10 people have died as catastrophic fires rage in Los Angeles for the fourth day in a row as police make a series of arrests over looting and arson.
Mel Gibson, 69, has reflected on what it felt like to lose everything in the Los Angeles fires that devastated Malibu on Friday.
The actor was able to recover his family’s passports and other important documents, but everything else went up in flames (pictured, the remains of Gibson’s $14.5 million mansion).
As of Friday, more than 10,000 structures have been burned, with a total of 29,053 acres of land burned in one of Los Angeles’ most horrific disasters to date.
There are growing questions, including from Gibson himself, about why officials in Los Angeles and California did not prepare for the disaster when they had ample warnings about encroaching winds.
Gibson said he knew his house was ruined after he was warned it was in the direct path of the fire, but it was still shocking to see the rubble left behind.
‘In general, everything has disappeared. When I went there yesterday, it looked like Dresden after Bomber Harris finished it. There is nothing left,’ he said.
‘My son grabbed like three things and left and those are fine, things like passports and a couple of papers… (but) it’s tragic, it makes you very sad. I actually have neighbors and I was watching them and I felt worse for them than I did for myself.
‘I see it as a strange mix of sadness and almost a kind of euphoria in a sense. I just count my blessings… it is what it is, I guess.’
Gibson was referring to February 1945, when British warplanes destroyed the German city of Dresden for five hours in a bombing campaign toward the end of World War II.
Their home and many of the surrounding structures were razed to the ground by the fire that claimed more than 10,000 other structures this week.
He had appeared in a three-hour meeting with Rogan as fires engulfed his home, but Gibson said he didn’t mind as host of the podcast.“It can calm you down pretty well, so I was doing well and I knew my family was safe.”
Gibson said he felt at peace losing his possessions, but he felt terrible for his neighbors, who also had their homes burned down at the same time.
Gibson had sat down to appear on Joe Rogan’s podcast at the time his house was on fire.
Gibson also shared haunting visions of fire and brimstone when he appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience.
The actor-turned-filmmaker warned the controversial podcaster that society was headed toward a ‘collapse’ while discussing the fires that have devastated several Greater Los Angeles neighborhoods and left other celebrities homeless.
Gibson shared with Rogan that he didn’t even know yet if his house was going to survive the ‘hell’ that has engulfed parts of Pacific Palisades, Malibu, Altadena, Pasadena and Hollywood Hills.
It also included a lot of criticism of California Governor Gavin Newsom for not “taking care of and maintaining the forest,” even though all of the current fires started in urban settings.
gibson He didn’t mince his words as he ranted scathingly about Newsom while chatting with the 57-year-old UFC commentator.
The actor said: “I think Newsom said, ‘I’m going to take care of the forest and maintain it and do all that kind of stuff’; he didn’t do anything.”
Rogan chimed in saying he believes California’s governor had directed tax money to support the homeless population instead of fire prevention.
The Passion of the Christ director agreed with the host before joking: “I think all our taxes probably went towards Gavin’s hair gel.”
Gibson and Rogan sharply criticized California Governor Gavin Newsom for his response to the fires.
Gibson joked that Governor Newsom probably spent more money on his hair care products than he did on fire prevention planning.
Apocalyptic fires tore through the luxurious enclave of Pacific Palisades on Tuesday and quickly spread to surrounding suburbs as a windstorm blew embers and debris in all directions.
Residents fled and then waited with bated breath to learn more about their homes, as news began to arrive that entire streets had been wiped off the map, firefighters were running out of water, and resources were being diverted to fight the fire on multiple fronts. .
This came as Newsom was left searching for an answer after he was pursued by a distraught Los Angeles mother demanding answers about the wildfires ravaging the city.
The California governor apologized and claimed he was trying to reach the president by phone when he was approached by the emotional woman on Thursday.
It came as large areas of the city remained engulfed by flames that have destroyed thousands of homes and businesses.
Governor Newsom has been taking it on from all angles lately and was cornered by a grieving mother who pressed him on how the fires had become so devastating.
Newsom couldn’t give a concrete answer about the recovery effort during the questioning, which lasted nearly two excruciating minutes.
On Thursday, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass attempted to deflect criticism that fire hydrants run dry by insisting they were full but simply not designed to deal with a disaster of this scale.
His comments came as fires continued to burn for a third straight day, with the Pacific Palisades fire becoming the most devastating in the county’s history.
Nearly 180,000 people have evacuation orders and hundreds of thousands remain without power.