During the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike, Mandy Moore was a prominent actor on the picket line. She was extremely vocal about how actors were being screwed over by streaming companies, specifically in regards to the residuals issue. It was an eye-opening moment for me – Mandy Moore has been around for years, working as a singer and actress on some bigger projects. She’s worked on Disney films and she had a long-running, award-winning gig on a network drama for years. People thought she had millions in the bank, but the SAG strike showed that a lot of well-known actors have nowhere near the kind of money they should have.
Well, Mandy just lost much of her home in the Southern California wildfires. While her property hasn’t been reduced to ash and cinder, it is uninhabitable. Her brother-in-law and sister-in-law lost their home in the fires too, as did many of Mandy’s friends and former coworkers. Last week, she shared some information on her social media, including a GoFundMe to help her in-laws. She was criticized for being a “rich actress” and asking for people to donate to her family, because people are ridiculous, cruel and stupid. She ended up clapping back on those critics:
Mandy Moore is one of the many celebrities who suffered extensive damage in the L.A. fires. Amid documenting the fire’s ravages on her Instagram page, she shared a GoFundMe page for her in-laws whose home burned down. The campaign initially sought to raise $60,000 but has since raised $176,000 and counting.
“Yesterday, my brother-in-law and sister-in-law Griff & Kit lost their home and everything they own in the Eaton Fire,” Moore wrote in the caption. “With their first baby on the way in a matter of weeks, they need our support now more than ever. Griff is a touring musician and also lost his entire arsenal of drums/percussion he uses to make a living. It’s all so much. So many have asked how to help during this unimaginable and stressful time…Please consider donating and sharing to help them rebuild.”
Moore’s decision to share the GoFundMe campaign resulted in backlash from critics claiming the “This Is Us” star should just donate her own money to support her in laws. Social media users began sharing a Celebrity Net Worth statistic claiming Moore’s net worth is $14 million as proof that she allegedly has more than enough money to help her in laws without asking for help. Moore addressed the backlash in her caption.
“People questioning whether we’re helping out our own family or attributing some arbitrary amount of money Google says someone has is NOT helpful or empathetic,” Moore wrote. “Of course we are. Our buddy Matt started this GoFundMe and I’m sharing because people have asked how they can help them. We just lost most of our life in a fire too. Kindly F OFF. No one is forcing you to do anything.”
Moore shared that although the main part of her home was still standing, it wasn’t livable and the property’s studios, garage and guest house were lost. Billy Crystal, Miles Teller, Paris Hilton, Jeff Bridges and more lost their properties in the blazes, as did Moore’s longtime “This Is Us” co-star Milo Ventimiglia.
I brought up the issue at the heart of the SAG strike for a reason – just because “Celebrity Net Worth” says Mandy Moore is worth $14 million, doesn’t make it so. She made it clear during the strike that while she’s grateful to have had some good-paying jobs in her career, she’s just a jobbing actress, like most actors. Her biggest asset was probably her house, and it just went up in smoke. I wish people would stop trying to armchair-gatekeep a horrific tragedy like this, a tragedy which has affected a huge swath of people in many different tax brackets.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Instagram.
