Why this photograph of Tom Hanks’ Los Angeles home is going viral
Chilling photographs show how frighteningly close the raging LA fires came to destroying this movie star’s $26 million mansion.
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A chilling photograph of this movie star’s $26 million mansion is going viral for one terrifying reason.
As multiple deadly blazes rage across Los Angeles, mass evacuations are in place across the city as tens of thousands of homes are mercilessly eviscerated in the horror fires.
The beloved exclusive celebrity enclave of Pacific Palisades in particular has been terrorised by the natural disaster, with harrowing footage showing the true extent of the shocking devastation in the area.
But miraculously, the stunning hillside home of actor Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson is somehow still standing and appears untouched after the ferocious blaze – while the mansion just behind them appears to be completely burnt to the ground.
MORE:Celeb homes destroyed in LA fires revealed
The couple purchased the sprawling 14,500 square foot, four bedroom, five bathroom home back in 2010 for $26 million.
One of their children, Chet Hanks, spoke out about the devastating Palisades Fire on social media, saying, “The neighbourhood I grew up in is burning to the ground rn. Pray for the Palisades.”
Hanks and Wilson, both 68, previously owned a charming Spanish-style villa, built in 1929, also in the Pacific Palisades.
They purchased the home as newlyweds and sold it in 2014 for $5 million.
The Forrest Gump and Castaway actor also purchased a beachfront home in Malibu back in 1991 which he reportedly still owns.
The ‘miracle’ Pacific Palisades property, which boasts expansive views of the Rustic Canyon, features a large swimming pool and pool house, a carport, a semicircular field and a 2-level limestone pavilion.
Around 180,000 people have now been told to evacuate as a handful of separate fires burn across Los Angeles, with the ritzy Pacific Palisades among the most ravaged areas, engulfing more than 17,000 acres.
Ten people have been confirmed dead as of Thursday, local time.
US model and actor Molly Sims, who attended the Golden Globes on Monday, could be seen hysterically sobbing in a video shared to her Instagram page, with the star saying she had no idea if her Palisades house was intact.
“I just wanted to give everyone a little update,” the 51-year-old said, before breaking down in tears.
“Our community is beyond devastated. We are all pulling together, a lot of my friends have lost their homes, I’m waiting to see if our home will be there.
“Right now, it’s just a waiting game. But I just wanted you to know I appreciate all the texts and DMs [direct messages], and anything you can do in terms of donations … I’ll share a whole list. All we can do is wait.”
Elsewhere, comedian and podcast host Whitney Cummings shared a TikTok video of herself frantically preparing to evacuate her home, which also doubles as her recording studio, in Topanga, a region nestled between Malibu and the Palisades.
“I am evacuating my home. It’s so hard to leave the podcast studio behind,” Cummings, 42, tearfully said.
“I know that sounds insane. I have everything, like my son’s birth certificate. But just to leave … all this.”
Cummings, who created the 2011 sitcom 2 Broke Girls and started recording her popular podcast Good for You from her home in 2019, then panned the camera to her window, showing the large smoke clouds nearby.
“I don’t know if you can see. It’s pretty close,” Cummings said, sobbing.
“I don’t know what I’m gonna lose, but it’s weirdly like, you really find out what matters to you when you have to evacuate. I’m not taking the cameras. I’m just taking little trinkets and stuff that you guys gave me at shows.”
Many big names, including Paris Hilton, Anthony Hopkins, Billy Crystal, Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag, and Adam Brody and Leighton Meester are among the high-profile names who have lost their homes.
A ferocious wildfire continues to ravage Pacific Palisades, prompting urgent evacuation orders for tens of thousands of residents as firefighters battle the blaze with dwindling resources.
The wildfire is threatening up to 10,000 homes in the area including residences owned by Ben Affleck, Chris Pratt, Reese Witherspoon and Miles Teller among many other Hollywood A-listers.
The inferno, now scorching through over 2,900 acres of Los Angeles land, is advancing at a speed that has left emergency services struggling to keep pace.
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