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Jennifer Garner revealed she lost a friend in the Palisades Fire that broke out and devastated the affluent community this week.
“I did lose a friend, and for our church, it’s really tender so I don’t feel like we should talk about it yet,” the actress told MSNBC reporter Katy Tur Friday as they stood in the Palisades surrounded by incinerated homes along with World Central Kitchen’s Chef José Andrés.
“I did lose a friend. She didn’t get out in time,” she continued as she became emotional.
“My heart bleeds for my friends,” the “Alias” alum, 52, continued. “I mean, I can think of 100 families, and there are 5,000 homes lost.”
“I can — without even [thinking] — I could just write out a list of 100 friends who lost their homes.”
Garner emphasized that the ruined Palisades neighborhood they were standing in — specifically on Fiske Street — was a bustling community where kids would play.
“My best friend’s house was down the street. They had a gong in their front yard,” she remembered. “There were so many kids that played in the street and they would hit the gong at the end of the day and call them home.”
“This is the street we run down on 5Ks. This is where the little firetruck — God, bless our firefighters — this is where the firetruck goes, you know, on the Fourth of July parade.”
The “13 Going on 30” actress also said she “almost” feels “guilty” walking through her house, which was spared from the destructive fire.
“You know, what can I do? How can I help? What can I offer? What do I have to offer with these hands and these walls and the safety that I have?” she rhetorically asked.
Garner lives in a $7.9 million farmhouse she had built after she and Ben Affleck finalized their divorce in 2018. Her customized home is located in the wealthy neighborhood of Brentwood, which is just southeast of the Palisades.
She allowed Affleck, 52, to seek refuge in her beloved residence after evacuating his $20.5 million estate due to the threat of the fires. Luckily, he was able to return to his unscathed house on Thursday.
On Friday, she volunteered with Andrés World Central Kitchen to help feed firefighters risking their lives to get the Los Angeles blazes under control.
“You’re never going wrong if you donate to World Central Kitchen,” Garner enthusiastically told Tur.
“I’ve lived in and around the Palisades for 25 years, so I just think all of us, we want to get our hands into working, somehow, to be helpful,” she added at another point in their interview.
“And because of my work with Save The Children, we have a relationship with the chef, and I was able to just say, ‘Can I be with you for the day? What can I do to help? Put me to work.’”
The Pacific Palisades caught fire on Tuesday.
Strengthened by 100-mile-per-hour winds, the blaze aggressively moved through approximately 20,000 acres of land, destroying more than 5,000 homes, businesses and other structures in its path.
While Affleck’s home made it through the fierce fire, many of his peers lost everything.
Adam Brody and Leighton Meester, Anna Faris, Billy Crystal, John Goodman, Miles Teller and Paris Hilton are just a few of the recognizable names whose residences were flattened to rubble and ashes.
