Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag.
John Kopaloff/Getty ImagesAlthough many celebrities received criticism for request for donations after the destruction of a forest fire, Spencer Pratt and Come on Monday they tell us why aren’t they worried about the “backlash”.
“We’re very used to the negative stuff, so it’s pretty standard,” Pratt, 41, exclusively said Us Weekly on Wednesday, January 15. “If people want to send their own money to whoever they want, it’s the equivalent of buying a celebrity’s merchandise, buying their movie tickets. People can do whatever they want with their own money and, thank God, there are people who want to support us and send us anything.”
He added: “No one is owed and this is not a tax. People can say what they want and have a right to an opinion. But all the people who send messages, they want to send money, they want to make the Amazon wish list. … It’s their choice.”
Pratt and Montag, 38, lost their Los Angeles at home in the ongoing wildfires that ravaged Southern California earlier this month. The natural disaster consumed thousands of acres and resulted in at least 25 deaths. Many residents, incl The hills alums, evacuated the city limits following government orders.
Pratt and Montag left the area with their sons Gunner, 6, and Riker, 2, with only a few personal belongings. After the loss most of their belongingsa pair of TikTok followers set up a GoFundMe campaign on behalf of Pratt and Montag.
“When it first happened, that first day, they set up a GoFundMe themselves and it just continued to do great and so amazing,” Pratt recalled. “And then they transferred it to us. We are so grateful to them for doing this and creating the Amazon Wish List.”
Montag also emphasized that neither she nor Pratt wanted to ask for contributions.
“Then our friends.” Brandon and Courtney (from TikTok) were like, “We don’t care what you say. We know people who want to donate money to you, and even if it’s just one donation, it will help,” she said. us. “So we didn’t expect anyone to donate. I didn’t post it, but we had so many people who wanted to give $5.”
According to GoFundMeThe Pratts have raised over $134,000 so far, and some of the generosity is as little as $5, but it’s not the amount that matters — the gift itself means so much more.
“People are like, ‘Oh, they want money’, it’s coffee for someone, so someone bought us coffee,” he explained. “It’s just in volume, so it might seem like it’s all money, but scroll (through and see) it’s just people sending you lattes.”
“There are people who think it’s a bigger number, and I’ve thanked every single person.”
Pratt further theorizes that the alleged backlash comes from those who mistakenly believe that all celebrities are extremely rich.
“No one thought we were rich celebrities until three days ago and it’s already disappointing. Like, if you Google ‘Spencer,’ it literally (says) ‘Wretched, no net worth,'” Pratt said Wednesday. “My net worth on this site you’ve been searching for the last 15 years… is $1,000. So now our house is on firemy parents’ house is burning down (and) now we’re rich celebrities, which is maddening because the media, respectfully, has never called us celebrities (and) they’ve never called us rich.
He added: “It’s a weird disconnect that we’re grouping ourselves with really rich celebrities, which would be great if we were … but we’re not, people know that.”
According to Pratt, “only the haters” call him and Montag out.
“There is no one with a brain (who) thinks we are rich celebrities. It’s like these haters are just trolling,” he said. “The people (who) support us and have been following our way of life on social media they see we are not rich celebrities. They see what we do every day. We’ve been Snapchatting our lives for the past 11 years, all day long. Our audience knows we’re not rich celebrities, they know we just eat Mexican food and get organic eggs and they know we do. We film everything.”
In addition to donations from GoFundMe and Amazon Wishlist, Pratt and Montag also have funds coming in from their respective business ventures and social media uploads. Many fans have purchased crystals from his Pratt Daddy Crystals store, as they often do streaming Montag’s past music and buying the accompanying goods. (They’re also members of the TikTok Creator Fund, where the app pays influencers for every popular video that gains authentic engagement, as well as a similar program to Snapchat.)
“Heidi’s #1 in 13 countriesI didn’t know that the people of Oman would support Heidi, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, I mean all these countries I hope, God willing, that she becomes a global superstar as well,” Pratt gushed. “We could go visit and hug these people who were there for us when we needed it the most.”
Stars are showing their support for Heidi Montag and her music after husband Spencer Pratt asked for help following the loss of their home in the Los Angeles wildfires. “Thank you all very much. Number 1 on iTunes, oh my God,” Montag shared on a Saturday, Jan. 11, Instagram Story. “Thank you (…)
Their former MTV colleagues Christine Cavallari, Audrina Patridge and Law Bosworth have also filmed themselves dancing to songs from Montag’s 2010 Superficial in the respective videos.
“The huge support of these people who use their platforms to help us when they know how influential their platforms are and how important every post is to them and their brands and to ask the people who follow them to rally behind us and to help us “It’s incredible,” exclaimed Montag. “We’ve never experienced this kind of support or kindness or even recognition, and for something that’s so important, it’s just been really heartwarming.”
Pratt, who noted that they plan to rebuild their family homehas recently been candid about his financial situation in recent videos on social media.
“We put all our money into our house and our lives to build something for our kids to put their name on and every detail we’ve just maintained every year for the last eight years,” he said us. “Our house was 3,000 square feet. That’s right not a mansion in the Palisades. Everything was perfect from the stoves to the laundry facilities. That’s all we put our money into – and then we go eat some nice groceries at Erewhon. But our life was like, “Put your money in our house, eat clean groceries, and that’s it.” We take one trip a year to see Heidi’s parents in Colorado.”
Pratt continued, “Any money we make from any TV opportunities or social media opportunities is just paycheck to paycheck. So everyone’s like, “Oh, Heidi and Spencer (are) these rich celebrities asking for money.” I wish I was a rich celebrity, I keep saying I’d be in Cabo eating tacos right now.
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
