Jennifer Garner has lived in and close to the Pacific Palisades for 25 years. She has a beautiful house there that she’s super proud of and is a big part of the community. Like the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Jen also volunteered at the World Food Kitchen’s relief center in the Palisades on Friday. Katy Tur, who also calls the area her “hometown,” pulled Jen and Chef José Andrés aside for a pretty emotional interview. While Jen’s home was spared, she has friends who were not so lucky. She can name at least “100 friends who lost their homes.” Sadly, another friend, whom she knew from church, didn’t make it out in time.
Jennifer Garner says she lost a friend as destruction tore through her Los Angeles neighborhood amid the Palisades and Eaton fires.
On Friday, Jan. 10, the actress, 52, spoke candidly on MSNBC alongside World Central Kitchen’s Chef José Andrés and anchor Katy Tur about the death of one of her friends from her church.
“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,” Garner said, her voice cracking. “I did lose a friend. She didn’t get out in time.”
Garner was working alongside Andrés as a volunteer at one of his several pop-up locations around Los Angeles County to feed evacuees who fled the fires.
“My heart bleeds for my friends,” Garner 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.”
“I feel almost guilty walking through my house,” she continued. “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?”
The mom-of-three was photographed serving food to firefighters battling the blaze through World Central Kitchen.
Elsewhere in the interview, Garner praised Andrés, 55, and his mission to help serve the community through World Central Kitchen amid the tragic fires.
“It is an incredible thing to watch,” Garner told Tur, 41. “World Central Kitchen and Chef José just come in and… ‘We’ve got you. We’ve got this handled. Don’t worry.’ ”
“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. “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.’ “
This is so devastating. All of the stories coming out of Los Angeles right now are just terrible. Like I said above, Jen’s interview with Katy is really emotional. At points, she struggles to get through it without crying, especially as she describes what a tight knit community her neighborhood was by comparing it to Sesame Street. My heart breaks for everyone in each of the areas and communities that have been destroyed.
Jen was also there with the charity Save the Children, of which she serves on the Board of Directors. They’re going to be visiting shelters and other locations to help parents and children with social/emotional support, which is going to be so, so important in the challenging days ahead. There are a lot of resources out there of places to donate to in order to help the victims. I think both ABC and CBS have good lists with a variety of different organizations. GoFundMe also has a section of verified fundraisers to help prevent scams.
photos credit: Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Avalon