Candy Spelling lost her home in the still-raging Los Angeles wildfires, a friend confirmed to PEOPLE
On Thursday, January 9, Nikki Haskell, a friend of the 79-year-old Broadway producer — who is a mother Beverly Hills, 90210 star Tori Spelling and her brother Randy, as well as the widow of their late TV producer father Aaron Spelling — confirmed to PEOPLE that their Malibu, Calif., home burned in the Palisades fire.
“It’s the house she owned with Aaron for 50 years,” Haskell tells PEOPLE.
He adds that “Candy is safe,” as she was staying at her Beverly Hills residence at the time of the fire while the Malibu properties were under construction, but says, “this feels like an apocalyptic crisis.” TMZ first broke the news.
The Wall Street Journal reported back in 2019 that the couple — who were married from 1968 until Aaron’s death in 2006 — bought their Malibu home in 1972 and later added a house next door to the property in the ’90s. The 8,000-square-foot beach house featured seven bedrooms, the outlet added.
A firefighter battles the Palisades Fire as homes burn along the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, California.
Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times via Getty
Celebrities who lost their homes or had to evacuate due to the Los Angeles fire and what they said
The Malibu estate is different from the well-known Spelling mansion, a custom-built home located in the Holmby Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles (about 30 miles east of coastal Malibu) where the family of four once lived in the 1990s and threw lavish parties.
The New York Times the bestselling author of Candy sold the 123-room French chateau-style property in 2011. After her husband’s death, she customized the 56,500-square-foot property with unique touches such as rooms just for wrapping gifts, cutting flowers, and a doll collection dedicated to her.
“I spent four years, 24 hours a day, planning this house,” she told PEOPLE at the time. “Now I need something smaller – just for me. I’ll have to give up some things, but it’s time for a change.”
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Dozens of Malibu beach homes destroyed in Palisades fire.
David Crane/MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Daily News via Getty
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The devastating Palisades Fire first broke out in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles on January 7 and has since burned over 17,000 acres with 0% containment, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department. Another large fire, called the Eaton Fire, has broken out in the eastern LA County cities of Pasadena and Altadena, and has already burned over 20,000 acres. Four additional fires also continue to burn in the region.
As of Thursday, January 9, more than 100,000 residents have been ordered to evacuate. As of Wednesday, city officials have reported five deaths, although the exact number of victims has yet to be determined, they noted the next day.
See the most dramatic, terrifying photos of the wildfire devastation in California
Residents, including many celebrities, from areas like Malibu, Santa Monica, Altadena and more were forced to evacuate.
PEOPLE reported that Adam Brody and Leighton Meester, Anna Faris, Cobie Smulders and Taran Killam, John Goodman, Jennifer Gray and more have lost their homes. Billy Crystal, Ricki Lake, Cameron Mathison, Miles Teller and Paris Hilton are among the stars who have confirmed they are gone.
Hilton spoke candidly about losing her own home in Malibu in a post on Instagram, writing about the fond memories she had there.
“Sitting with my family, watching the news and seeing our home in Malibu burn to the ground on live TV is something no one should have to experience,” she wrote in part. “This home was where we built so many precious memories. … It’s where Phoenix took its first steps and where we dreamed of building a lifetime of memories with London. … Although the loss is overwhelming, I cling to the gratitude that my family is safe . My heart and prayers go out to every family affected by these fires.”
Click here to learn more about how to help victims of the Los Angeles wildfires.
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