‘This Is Us’ Star Milo Ventimiglia Tears Up in Interview After Losing His and Pregnant Wife’s Home in LA Fires

Milo Ventimiglia couldn’t hold back his emotions as he returned to the charred remains of his Malibu, Calif. home destroyed in the devastating Los Angeles wildfires. The This Is Us star, 47, whose wife Jarah Mariano, 41, is nine months pregnant, called the loss of his family’s home “heavy” in an interview with CBS News on Thursday, Jan. 9.

Inspecting the damage in his neighborhood, Ventimiglia confessed, “You start thinking about all the memories in different parts of the house and what not and then you see your neighbor’s houses and everything kind of around and your heart just breaks.”

The Gilmore Girls alum recalled watching his own home burn to the ground via security cameras after he and his wife were evacuated on Tuesday, Jan. 7. “It’s a kind of a shock moment where you go, this is real, this is happening and at a certain point you just turn it off,” he said. “What good is it to continue watching? We kind of accepted the loss.”

Ventimiglia and Mariano lost most of their belongings in the fire, including a crib for their unborn baby, but the actor remains grateful that his family is safe in the end. “We got good friends and we got good people we’re working with and we’ll make do. Wife and baby and dog, most important,” he said.

Ventimiglia also noted the similarities between his personal tragedy and the fate of his This Is Us character, Jack Pearson, who died of smoke inhalation on the NBC drama after his family’s home burned to the ground. “You know, it’s not lost on me, life imitating art,” he told CBS News.

Ventimiglia and Mariano, who tied the knot in 2023, announced in September 2024 that they were expecting their first child together, sharing surfing-themed maternity photos with the caption, “Baby on board!”

Ventimiglia was one of the many people to lose their homes in the Los Angeles County fires, including his former This Is Us wife Mandy Moore and fellow celebrities Paris Hilton, Adam Brody and Leighton Meester, and Billy Crystal.

The wildfires, which sparked on Tuesday, Jan. 7, have forced more than 180,000 people from their homes and killed at least 10 people. The Palisades Fire, which has been declared the most destructive fire in Los Angeles County history, has burned more than 30 square miles and destroyed an estimated 5,000 structures. Thursday, Jan. 9 also brought a new brush fire, dubbed the Kenneth Fire, which sparked in the Woodland Hills area of Los Angeles.