Tyyra Banks reveals her home was burned to the ground in the ongoing Los Angeles wildfires that have killed 28 people and destroyed over 17,000 buildings since they began almost 14 days ago on January 7.
Some 200,000 people have been forced to evacuate from LA and other Californian regions such as the Riverside, San Bernadino and Ventura counties as blazes tore through locations such as Pacific Palisades, Sunset Boulevard and Hollywood Hills.
Early estimates predict the damages could be in the region of $20 billion dollars and one person already feeling that is the 51-year-old model and personality, who became known as the first black American woman to make the cover of GQ and Sports Illustrated Swimsuit.
“I just didn’t want to pull a lot of attention to me,” Banks said to Sunrise Monday, explaining why she only revaled the news this late. “I feel like there’s a lot of people that need that attention.
“But I can’t sit here and not tell the truth. We were at a friend’s house here, and we were celebrating and having fun.
“I kept checking my phone, not for my house, but for friends and family, making sure they were evacuating and everything. And then I asked my partner, I was like, ‘I’m seeing something here, what do you think?’
“And he [nodded]. [We] pulled it together and just didn’t say anything to friends and just stayed in the moment; and then we went home, and we cried, and we had our moment.”
Banks loses valuable items and memories
Banks revealed she and her eight-year-old son split their time between Australia and New York City.
Thus they were not in Los Angeles when the tragedy occurred, something that offered her a slight saving grace.
“A lot of those memento-mementos are here and in New York,” Banks continued to the Australian TV show. “So I didn’t lose that, thank goodness.
“There were some mementos that we lost. It’s tough.”