Mel Gibson recalled returning home to “nothing” after his $14.5 million Malibu mansion caught fire while filming Joe Rogan’s podcast in Austin, Texas.
The 69-year-old actor shared his devastation after his home was leveled by the terrible wildfires, in an emotional interview on NewsNation’s Elizabeth Vargas Reports.
While filming the podcast, Mel said she knew her neighborhood was on fire, but she wondered if her house was still standing.
Mel began: ‘Obviously, it’s devastating. It’s emotional.’
He added: “I was doing Rogan’s podcast… And (I was) a little uncomfortable while we were talking, because I knew my neighborhood was on fire, so I was like, I wonder if my place is still there.”
But when I got home, sure enough, he wasn’t there. I came home and said to myself, well, at least I don’t have those annoying plumbing problems anymore.
Mel Gibson, 69, recalled returning home to “nothing” after his $14.5 million Malibu mansion caught fire while filming Joe Rogan’s podcast in Austin, Texas.
Mel has been trying to sell her massive mansion for years and even knocked $3 million off the asking price.
“I had a lot of personal things in there that, you know, I can’t get back…
“All kinds of things, from photographs to files, you know, you know, just personal things that I’ve had over the years, and clothes, you know, very interesting things, you know, but you know all that can be replaced.
‘These are just things. And the good, the good news is that, you know, my family members and the ones I love are all fine, and we’re all happy and healthy and out of danger, that’s all that matters to me, really.’
Mel has been trying to sell his massive mansion for years and even knocked $3 million off the listing price.
The sprawling property, built in 1996, was purchased by the Oscar winner in 2008 for a whopping $11.5 million and featured five bedrooms, as well as a majestic old-world feel that included a castle-style tower.
Mel shared haunting visions of fire and brimstone when he appeared on the latest episode of 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.
Mel 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.
The actor said he is “devastated” that his home has been leveled by the horrific wildfires in an emotional interview on NewsNation’s Elizabeth Vargas Reports.
While filming the podcast, Mel said she knew her neighborhood was on fire, but she wondered if her house was still standing.
Mel began: ‘Obviously, it’s devastating. It’s emotional. “I was doing Rogan’s podcast… And I was a little uncomfortable while we were talking, because I knew my neighborhood was on fire, so I was like, I wonder if my place is still there.”
According to the director of The Passion of the Christ, “All these traces, precursors of a collapse, are present in our time. It doesn’t take long.
Mel referred in his talk to Jared Diamond’s 2011 book, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed.
“It says all the things necessary for a civilization to collapse and collapse,” Gibson said of the book. ‘It’s an interesting observation. And we are not smarter than our grandparents.
The Mad Max star said his son Milo, who is on the Malibu volunteer fire department, sent him a video of his neighborhood “on fire,” which made it look like “hell.”
However, he is in no danger of becoming homeless, as he boasted of having another home in Costa Rica.
“I love it there,” he said after Joe asked him if the ongoing fires would be the final straw for him to finally move out of California.
Mel later joked that he could get “a new house” out of the crisis.
Ironically, the restaurant and bar where Mel got drunk before his infamous anti-Semitic rant in 2006, Moonshadows Malibu, was a victim of the fire, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The Los Angeles fires that have left many celebrities homeless (a firefighter is seen trying to put out a fire at a beachfront property in Malibu on Thursday)
Joe Rogan (pictured) asked if this would be the last straw for him to finally move out of the state of California, but Mel responded: “I have a place in Costa Rica, I love it there.”
Mel reserved much of his fury over the fires for California Governor Gavin Newsom.
“I think Newsom said, ‘I’m going to take care of the forest and maintain it and do all that kind of stuff,’ and he didn’t do anything,” he complained.
The Braveheart director agreed with the host before joking: “I think all our taxes probably went towards Gavin’s hair gel.”
Joe chimed in saying that he believes the governor of California had allocated tax money to support the homeless. population instead of fire prevention.
The death toll from the historic infernos has reached 10, as heroic firefighters still battle hellish conditions on the front lines of at least five different fires.
Apocalyptic fires tore through the upscale enclave of Pacific Palisades on Tuesday and quickly spread to surrounding suburbs as a wind storm that sometimes reached up to 100 mph 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 come in that entire streets had been wiped off the map, firefighters were running out of water after destroyed infrastructure prevented more hill from being pumped. up and resources were running out. diverted to fight the fire on multiple fronts.
According LAistaDemand for water during the firefight was four times higher than usual levels, making it impossible to refill the water tanks quickly enough to increase water pressure, although the water never ran out.
The wildfires that began Tuesday have continued to ravage the City of Los Angeles and have so far claimed six lives.
A structure is burned by the Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles
Mel’s interview comes as large areas of the city remain engulfed by flames that have destroyed thousands of homes and businesses.
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.
Although water supplies failed due to burst pipes and extreme demand, the fire was fueled by dry vegetation and extreme winds, which gusted to 80 to 100 mph.
It’s unclear whether more water would have had much of an impact on the fire, as embers flew miles from their origins after being carried by hurricane-force winds, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Bass’ comments came as fires continued to burn for the 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.