Milo Ventimiglia said it was like “life imitating art” as he and his wife, Jarah Mariano, watched their Los Angeles-area home burn down through security cameras they had installed on the property.
The This Is Us alum wasn’t oblivious to the similarities that could be drawn between his real life and that of the character he portrayed on the hit drama series as the extent of the devastation from the deadly wildfires began to sink in.
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On Thursday evening, CBS shared a segment its reporter Tony Dokoupil shot with the 47-year-old actor and father-to-be as he visited the property for the first time since the Palisades Fire scorched the neighborhood.
As they were arriving at the Malibu, Calif., lot, Ventimiglia only had one word to describe what was left of the house he and his wife had planned to bring their baby–who they expect to arrive any day now–home to before evacuating this past Tuesday: “Toast.”
The Gilmore Girls alum eventually got out of the car and toured part of the property, showing Dokoupil a pile of soot where his kitchen once was and the area where he and his wife of a year had worked to make a cozy nursery for the newborn.
“You start thinking about all the memories and the different parts of the house and whatnot,” he told Dokoupil while holding back tears, “and then you see your neighbors’ houses and everything around and your heart just breaks.”
Actor Milo Ventimiglia tells CBS News’ @TonyDokoupil he helplessly watched his home burn to the ground through security cameras. The 47-year-old father-to-be returned to his property to see what was left. pic.twitter.com/jidcR5ZAsY
— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) January 10, 2025
Even though he knew that his house was gone before he arrived at the address, he said it still felt “heavy” to be standing there.
“I think there’s a kind of shock moment where you’re going, ‘Oh, this is real, this is happening,’” Ventimiglia explained, recalling how “at a certain point, we just turned it [the security cameras] off. What good is it to continue watching? We kind of accepted the loss.”
Though the couple tried to grab everything they could before they left for safer grounds, not everything made it out with them–including the baby’s crib and nursery which was “all set up.”
“It’s not lost on me, life imitating art,” Ventimiglia said, comparing his real-life tragedy to that of his This Is Us character, Jack. Thankfully, things panned out better for the actor as he’s still here, and as he says, “We got good friends, and we got some good people we’re working with, and we’ll make do. We’ll make do. Wife and baby are most important.”
As of 6:45 p.m. local time on Thursday, the Palisades Fire burned more than 19,900 acres, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire). Firefighters nearby were also battling the Eaton Fire, which had burned more than 13,690 acres as of 6:10 p.m. local time on Thursday. Both of the fires, which authorities said started on Tuesday, Jan. 7, were close to 0 percent contained by late Thursday afternoon. At least five people have died due to the devastating conditions.
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