The celebrity refugees fleeing LA wildfires: How Hollywood elite from Chrissy Teigen, John Legend and Jamie Lee Curtis are holed up at $1,000-a-night hotels
Hollywood’s elite are fleeing their homes as the Los Angeles wildfires rage on – with celebrities racing to find refuge in hotels costing thousands of pounds per night.
Jamie Lee Curtis as well as power couple John Legend and Chrissy Teigen are among dozens of stars forced elsewhere as the Palisade Fire’s trail of destruction continues and the disaster’s death toll today rose to 16.
And actors Dennis Quaid and Sarah Michelle Gellar are among those seen arriving at the Hotel Bel-Air, built in 1922 and which charges up to $15,000 per night for a room.
Also pictured there as the Palisade Fire still rages across LA were Mötley Crüe rock drummer Tommy Lee, 62, and his 38-year-old wife Brittany Furlan.
Meanwhile, the $1,000-a-night Beverly Hills Hotel, opened in 1912 and known as ‘The Pink Palace’, is also proving popular – not only for stars but also their pet dogs.
Oscar-winning Lee Curtis is among those who has been seen walking the grounds with a pet, while dog bags and baskets have joined luggage in hotel receptions.
Meanwhile, model Teigen has shared on Instagram photos of her and pop star husband Legend sheltering in a hotel room, though the venue was not named.
Teigen, 39, who vacated their $17.5million Beverly Hills home with the couple’s four children and pets, shared clips on Instagram featuring bearded dragon Sebastian and told fans that they not have left him at home.
Model and TV personality Chrissy Teigen has shared with fans on Instagram how she and her family have had to escape their home and stay in a hotel – taking alone her pet bearded dragon
She posted footage from the unnamed hotel including her popstar husband John Legend
Many Hollywood stars have been forced to seek refuge elsewhere as the Los Angeles wildfires continue to rage, including Oscar-winning actress Jamie Lee Curtis (pictured)
The downtown Los Angeles skyline is seen far left in the distance as firefighters monitor the Palisades fire near the Mandeville Canyon neighborhood and Encino, California on January 11
Earlier in the day she shared that she was packing to leave the house, saying: ‘This is surreal. I’m very scared now. Packing.’
Lee Curtis has been holed up at the Beverly Hills Hotel, having pledged $1million (£811,000) to help those stricken by the blazes – although her own Pacific Palisades property is believed to be intact.
Another of the new residents at the same hotel is Hollywood executive Eric Feig, former co-president of the Lionsgate Motion Picture Group behind hit movies such as La La Land, The Hurt Locker and the Hunger Games franchise.
He told of the fears sweeping through the stricken state, as firefighters continue to battle the wildfires which have killed at least 16 people and destroyed vast swathes of land and homes.
Mr Feig’s home is also said to be safe although he and his family still had to flee, with the dangers still high across his neighbourhood.
He fled along with his wife Susanna and children Ellie, 20, and 15-year-old Alex, along with their three dogs – seizing their passports, birth certificates, a bag of photos and dog food before escaping by car.
He told the Telegraph he knew 57 families who had lost their homes, adding: ‘It kind of feels apocalyptic – it’s such a beautiful neighborhood.
“I’ve lived there for about 11 years and as soon as I crest the hill and see that view of the hills, honestly, even after 11 years, there’s like a little stop in my heart. I’m just like, “Wow, I cannot believe I live here – this is so beautiful”.’
Mr Feig added: ‘It’s a real kind of pinch me moment… and so you see this now, and it’s destruction, I mean, just clouds of smoke all over the place.’
Dozens of famous names have been forced to evacuate, with orders in place covering most of the city, while those currently residing elsewhere watched on in horror.
Among the stars facing the potential wipe-out of their homes are actors Steve Guttenberg, Billy Crystal, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Anna Faris and Mel Gibson.
Quaid, 70, sought sanctuary at the Hotel Bel-Air after the fires reached within 100 yards of his property in the badly-ravaged Pacific Palisades neighbourhood.
He was joined there by his wife Laura Savoie, 34, and their pet dog Peaches.
Quaid said: ‘I’ve been through several fires here in California in my 45 years in and around here, and this is the worst one bar none. It came up so suddenly.’
He told NBC he counted himself ‘lucky’ because ‘so many friends’ had suffered worse.
He said: ‘My agent, he lost both of his houses, and another good friend over in the Palisades, he just moved into a house and he was renting the other one and he lost both of ’em.
Dennis Quaid grew emotional on Saturday as he shared that he had been evacuated from his Brentwood home amid the catastrophic Los Angeles fires
‘We’re fighting as hard as we can to save our city – gosh, I never thought I’d say that.’
Also seen at the Bel-Air were Buffy The Vampire Slayer star Gellar, 47, and actor husband Freddie Prinze Jr, 48, after fearing their colonial-style home in the Mandeville Canyon district was under threat.
And she has been among the vocal critics of how local authorities have responded to the disaster, writing on social media: ‘City of LA you want everyone to evacuate yet you have complete gridlock and not one traffic cop on the roads helping.’
Another posting online has been actor and producer Rob McElhenney, who co-owners League One football club Wrexham along with Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds.
He wrote online: ‘Our family is safe. So many homes, whole neighbourhoods are just . . . gone.’
Most of the affected celebrity homes appear to be in the eastern side of the Pacific Palisades, including Eugene Levy, Billy Crystal and Anna Faris’s properties.
On the west side of the Palisades, Leighton Meester and husband Adam Brody’s family home has burned to ashes as well as that of basketball plater Kawhi Leonard.
Meanwhile, Steve Guttenberg’s house up on The Summit area of the Palisades was also surrounded by the raging wildfires, but was miraculously spared.
Paris Hilton, 43, said she watched her waterfront Malibu home burn to the ground on live television in an emotional social media post last Wednesday.
‘Sitting with my family, watching the news, and seeing our home in Malibu burn to the ground on live TV is something no one should ever have to experience,’ the socialite said on X/Twitter, accompanied by a clip from KABC depicting the damage.
Hilton bundled her ‘babies’, her five Pomeranians, into the back of her car as she fled her Malibu mansion in the middle of the night.
She shared a clip of her animals all gathered together on the backseat as she described running around her home to find each of her pets.
She said: ‘Okay we found everyone – we are packing up the car and getting ready to go to the hotel.’
Jason Oppenheim, star of US reality programme Selling Sunset, told BBC1’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg today: ‘The hotels are overwhelmed all the way down to Newport Beach and even into San Diego you can’t get a hotel room right now.’
He accused private landlords of taking advantage of people being displaced and ramping up rental fees.
He said: ‘It’s all hands on deck right now, but it’s really difficult because there are thousands of people who are displaced without places to stay.
Paris Hilton’s Malibu Beach home is among those reduced to wreckage by the LA blazes
The socialite told on Instagram how she had watched her property burn to the ground
‘And even, unfortunately, and this is something that I want to discuss, because I think it should be exposed, but we’re having landlords taking advantage of the situation.
‘I had a client – we sent him to a house that was asking $13,000 (£10,600) a month – he offered $20,000 (£16,400) a month, and he offered to pay six months up front.
‘And the landlord said, “No, I want $23,000 (18,800) a month”. You know, there are price-gouging laws in California that are just being ignored right now.
‘And this isn’t the time to be taking advantage of situations, and it’s also illegal to take advantage of a natural disaster.’
