“My heart is breaking for the families who have lost everything,” the actress wrote on Instagram
Kate Beckinsale in Los Angeles on Aug. 2, 2021. Photo: Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic
Kate Beckinsale is grieving the loss of her daughter’s childhood neighborhood in the Los Angeles-area wildfires, and “for the families who have lost everything” as a result.
The actress shared footage and news from the devastating fires on Instagram Wednesday, Jan. 8, including a list of areas in the Pacific Palisades that have been wiped out, including schools, gas stations, a park and a library.
“Hearing the winds last night, I prayed,” Beckinsale, 51, began her caption. “I knew it would be bad — we had to evacuate many times during our life there — but the shock at the whole of the Palisades being destroyed is unthinkably horrific.”
“My daughter and I lived there for most of her childhood and most of her childhood is gone,” she continued of her only child, 25-year-old Lily Mo Sheen. “Her primary school, every shop or restaurant we used to go to with my parents and Michael [Sheen]’s parents — and devastatingly, most of her friends’ homes. My heart is broken.”
Beckinsale went on to say in her post that “the Pacific Palisades is a community very unusual to find in Los Angeles, heavy on families with young children and pets,” and that she is “weeping for all of the people and pets involved, so many of them I know.”
“My heart is breaking for the families who have lost everything, and the people and their animals, not to mention the horses and all the wild animals, people’s businesses and livelihoods,” wrote the Underworld actress. “This is just like hell. If anyone from village needs shelter and doesn’t still have a number for me, please contact me on Instagram.”
Amid the devastating wildfires in Southern California — including the Pacific Palisades fire that has so far spread across at least 2,900 acres as of 8 a.m. local time Wednesday — experts are saying that the situation is far from improving.
“This event is not only not over, but it is just getting started and will get significantly worse before it gets better,” UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain said at an afternoon briefing Tuesday, Jan. 7, per The Los Angeles Times, adding that the strongest and most widespread winds have “yet to come.”
Aerial view of the fire in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, California, on Jan. 7, 2025. Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times via Getty
Tom Hanks’ Son Chet Says His Childhood Neighborhood is ‘Burning to the Ground’ amid Palisades Fires
In an early-morning Wednesday update, the National Weather Service (NWS) Los Angeles advised that a high wind warning is in effect until 6 p.m. for Santa Barbara and Catalina islands, L.A. County beaches, L.A. County Inland Coast including downtown, and Palos Verdes Hills. Forecasters predicted north winds of 30 to 40 mph, with gusts up to 60 mph.
“Damaging winds could blow down many trees and power lines. Widespread power outages are possible. Travel will be difficult, especially for high-profile vehicles,” according to the NWS update.
High wind warnings are also in effect until 6 p.m. Wednesday for Central Ventura County valleys, Northern Ventura County mountains, the Southern Ventura County Mountain and the Malibu coast.
The NWS Storm Prediction Center said that while the winds should gradually weaken throughout Wednesday, “critical fire weather conditions are expected to persist into Thursday.”