A reality TV star Come on Monday open to Us Weekly in an exclusive interview about what she took — and what she wishes she didn’t leave behind — while evacuating the Los Angeles wildfires.
“I didn’t know what to do,” The hills alum said us on Wednesday, Jan. 15, referring to the moment she realized she and her family needed to escape the wildfire burning through Pacific Palisades. “Nothing could have prepared me for this… You just can’t think about it. I started just packing things that made sense – not really thinking about anything else.
Heidi, 38, and her husband, Spencer Prattlost their home in the fire, according to an initial Instagram post shared by Spencer’s sister, Stephanie Pratton January 7. Heidi and Spencer, 41, have children Gunnar, 7, and Ryker, 2.
Heidi revealed that in her panic, the priority when packing up their lives was “the kids’ stuff”.
“So I took their teddy bears. I happened to have, from the tooth fairy, Gunner’s teeth that he left in my closet, so I grabbed them,” she explained. “I grabbed a few documents that we had — those prepackaged (those) from years ago from the (previous) fires. I grabbed two pairs of jeans and two shirts. I grabbed a pair of shoes – a random pair of sneakers.
In the couple’s haste, they were also forced to leave behind numerous beloved items—items that have now been destroyed. One item, Spencer explains, was a special Christmas present he had convinced his wife to buy for herself.
“She got nothing,” he said us. “Then, right before Christmas, she got these Golden Goose shoes at Palisade Village. That was her big gift. I was like, “Just get your Golden Goose.” She didn’t.
Heidi explained that she thought she would be able to “come back for them.”
“At the end of packing it occurred to me that I might not come back,” she added. “I thought, ‘Oh my God, I have to go to the nursery and get their bears.’ And I had Gunner, he had a fever of 104 — he had that for days — and I was so busy with him … (I was) just grabbing things and worrying and wandering around aimlessly.”
In addition to her new shoes, Heidi said she wished she had grabbed “pictures,” which she explained she can no longer get back.
“I don’t have any pictures,” she said. “I have all these photo albums I took for rSpencer before there was Instagram and TikTok and iPhones. These pictures (that) I will never have again. All that sentimental stuff just went away, you know?’
To date, the Palisades, Eaton and other smaller fires have burned a total of 38,600 acres, according to NBC News. At least 27 people died and 12,000 buildings were destroyed. Many celebrities including Mandy Moore, Milo Ventimiglia, Paris Hilton and Miles Tellerlost their homes in the flames.
For Heidi and Spencer, it’s not “things” they miss so much as their community.
“I miss our friends. I miss our everyday life. I miss dropping my son off at school there. I miss our whole world and feel so sad for all our friends,” she tells us through tears. “I feel so sorry for our whole community. It’s not just our loss – it’s literally our city’s loss; a community that we are all such an active part of.”
She continued: “(It’s) just the daily routine (that) you miss – waking up in your bed with your mirrors and your pillows and the smells of the house and the kids. It’s so hard.”
Check it out LAFD website for local wildfire alerts and click here for resources on how to help those affected.
With reporting by Andrea Simpson
