Photo: Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images
On January 9, Jamie Lee Curtis became the first celebrity to publicly pledge money to relief efforts for the fires raging on in Los Angeles. The actress announced on Instagram that she would be donating $1 million to fire relief, noting that the donation will be coming from her family foundation. (Curtis is married to the filmmaker Christopher Guest; they have two kids.) Plenty of other stars are also stepping up to help in a variety of ways. Below, a list of other celebs — including Sharon Stone and Halle Berry, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, and more — who are giving everything from their money to the clothes in their closets.
Jennifer Garner asked Chef José Andrés of World Central Kitchen to “Put me to work” as she wanted to help out her community of the Pacific Palisades. She volunteered to hand out meals with the organization and explained to MSNBC how the loss was extremely personal to her. “My heart bleeds for my friends,” the actress said. “I mean, I can think of 100 families, and there are 5,000 homes lost. I could just write out a list of 100 friends who lost their homes.” She choked up as she talked about losing a friend to the fires who “didn’t get out in time.”
Paris Hilton, whose Malibu home went up in flames, is launching an emergency fund to support displaced families with young children through her nonprofit, 11:11 Media Impact. “I’m starting with a personal contribution of $100,000, and will be matching additional dollars raised up to $100,000 more,” she announced in a January 10 Instagram post. “I am looking for others to donate and match alongside me to do our part!”
Both Sharon Stone and Halle Berry donated items from their closets to a fire-relief pop-up experience at a home goods store called +COOP. Store owner Jenna Cooper had asked friends to donate items that impacted community members could take home free of charge. Stone amplified the call-to-action with a January 8 Instagram post encouraging people to donate to +COOP, and Berry responded in the comments, “I’m there.” On January 9, Berry shared her own Instagram post promoting the pop-up, noting in the caption that she was “packing up [her] entire closet and heading over.” Reuters reports that actors including Stone and Berry offered up their clothes, shoes, handbags, belts, and other items.
The music industry power couple is partnering with Live Nation and AEG Presents to hold a FireAid benefit concert on January 30 at Los Angeles’s Intuit Dome. Per Billboard, the money raised from the event will be donated toward efforts to rebuild infrastructure, support displaced families, and advance fire prevention technology and strategies. The lineup of artists has not yet been announced, but plenty of options will presumably in town, given that the Grammys are set to take place in L.A. on February 2. Ticketing information will be announced in coming days.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have donated money and supplies to relief efforts through their Archewell Foundation, according to People and Town & Country Magazine.
On January 10, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex visited displaced families and thanked first responders alongside Pasadena Mayor Victor Gordo, who told FOX 11 that the couple had “anonymously” volunteered to distribute meals with José Andrés’s World Central Kitchen earlier that day. “No one knew they were serving food with masks,” Gordo said. People previously also confirmed that the couple has opened up their home in Montecito to friends and loved ones who were forced to evacuate.
Former Real Housewives of New York City star Bethenny Frankel said in a January 8 Instagram video that her nonprofit, BStrong, was “mobilizing now” to deliver “cash cards” and aid to people affected by the California wildfires in partnership with the Global Empowerment Mission. “We will start distributing money in the community and possibly helping with the rebuild like we’ve done in other communities,” Frankel said, encouraging her followers to donate. And it didn’t take long for her to provide proof of results; on January 10, Frankel posted a video of someone tearfully thanking BStrong for giving her a gift card after she lost her Altadena home to a fire.
Without specifying a monetary amount, the third richest person in the world confirmed that he is donating to support those impacted by the fires in Los Angeles. “Meta is giving to the relief efforts and Priscilla and I are personally as well,” Zuckerberg wrote in a January 9 post on Threads.
Curtis pledged $1 million to relief efforts in a January 9 Instagram post, adding that her family is communicating with California governor Gavin Newsom, Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass, and Senator Adam Schiff on the best use of those funds. Her post announcing this donation comes after Curtis’s spot on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon last night to promote The Last Showgirl, for which she received a SAG Supporting Actress nomination earlier in the week. She spent the opening stretch of her appearance talking about the devastating losses of the wildfires that swept through the Pacific Palisades. “As you know, where I live is on fire right now,” she said. “Everything — the market I shop in, the schools my kids go to … many, many, many friends have lost their homes.”
Curtis’s own home is located in Santa Monica, contiguously south of the Palisades, which is facing evacuation orders in areas. After noting on Instagram on January 8 that her house was “possibly” on fire, she later confirmed that the structure is safe. Curtis also appealed to viewers to donate resources to aid organizations like the American Red Cross — Curtis is a longtime ambassador — and bulk up on their emergency preparedness. “Do anything you can, anything in your community to help people,” she said. “Whether you need it or not now, you will need it.”
This post has been updated.