The American supermodel broke down in tears as she revealed she was in Sydney when she learned her lavish Palisades house had burned to the ground
Tyra Banks stunned Sunrise viewers on Monday morning when she revealed she and her partner Louis Bélanger-Martin lost one of their homes in the recent LA fires.
The American supermodel, 51, broke down in tears as she revealed she was in Sydney when she learned her lavish Palisades house had burned to the ground.
She told Channel Seven hosts Natalie Barr and Matt Shirvington she kept the devastating loss private because she ‘didn’t want to pull a lot of attention to me’.
‘I lost my house… I haven’t really talked about it, um, but yeah, I have,’ a teary-eyed Tyra said when asked about the fires which ravaged the City of Angels.
‘I just didn’t want to pull a lot of attention to me, I feel like there’s a lot of people that need that attention so I haven’t talked about it.
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‘But I can’t sit here and not tell the truth.’
Tyra Banks, 51, (pictured) stunned Sunrise viewers on Monday morning when she revealed she and her partner Louis Bélanger-Martin lost one of their homes in the recent LA fires
Tyra is currently living in Sydney as she prepares to open her first ice-cream store Smize & Dream at Darling Harbour in March.
She has been splitting her time between Australia and her home in New York, revealing she was incredibly lucky to have moved most of her belongings out of LA.
Tyra went on to say that she learned her house had burned down in the Palisades fire, which is one of several which have been burning through the city since January 6.
The blaze tore through more than 23,700 acres and destroyed 5,000 structures.
Tyra said she was ‘at a friend’s house here and celebrating, having fun’ at the time of the fires.
‘I kept checking my phone, not for my house, but for my friends and family, making sure they were evacuating…
‘And then I asked my partner, I said, “I’m seeing something on my phone here,” and he… [nods].
‘And I just pulled it together and didn’t say anything to my friends, and just stayed in that moment. And then we went home, and we cried, and we had our moment.’
She told Channel Seven hosts Natalie Barr (left) and Matt Shirvington (right) she kept the devastating loss private because she ‘didn’t want to pull a lot of attention to me’
The human toll of the wildfires in LA has been devastating, with at least 25 dead and over 88, 000 residents placed under a new evacuation alert.
They have been warned to brace for more dangerous fire weather.
Governor Gavin Newsom has already declared it one of the worst natural disasters in US history.
Authorities warned anybody in the vicinity of the blazes to be prepared to flee at a moment’s notice, amid concerns increasing winds will whip up new fires and fan the flames of those already burning.
On Tuesday, the National Weather Service said ‘we are not out of the woods yet’ despite winds not reaching the predicted intensity.
‘The winds under-performed today, but one more enhancement could happen tonight-tomorrow,’ NWS said in a statement.
This round of Santa Ana winds was not expected to be as strong as last week, but they could carry fire-sparking embers for miles and stoke new outbreaks in a decimated region where at least 25 people have already been killed.
The death toll is expected to continue to rise as authorities gain access to the smouldering sites ravaged by the fires.
The coroner initially said two new bodies were discovered on Tuesday—one in the vicinity of the Palisades fire which tore through the celebrity enclaves of Malibu and the Pacific Palisades—and another near the Eaton fire in Pasadena and Altadena.
But the death toll only went up by one after the coroner revealed the remains from the Eaton fire were not human.
