Laurie David, film producer and Larry David's ex-wife, flees Palisades fire for Massachusetts: "It feels like the end of the Earth"
BOSTON - Film producer and environmental activist Laurie David, the ex-wife of comedian Larry David, is among the celebrities who have fled the Pacific Palisades in California because of the wind-driven fires burning around Los Angeles.
Laurie David spoke to WBZ-TV after arriving on a flight to Boston's Logan Airport on Wednesday. She said she was headed to Martha's Vineyard, where she also lives.
"It really feels like the apocalypse, not to mince words," she said. "I can count five friends now whose homes are gone, and I have a lot of friends who have no idea if their homes are gone."
David said she was among those who had to evacuate because of the raging wildfires.
"My sister's house burned down, my ex-husband has a house there, my daughter has a house there," Laurie David said. "We raised our kids in the Palisades so we know so many people."
Laurie David and Larry David, who co-created "Seinfeld" and starred in HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm," divorced in 2007 after 14 years of marriage. According to Realtor.com, Laurie David listed her Pacific Palisades home with "180-degree mountain views" for $8.9 million last year.
Pacific Palisades fire
The Palisades fire started Tuesday morning and grew to more than 17,000 acres, forcing tends of thousands of residents from the affluent community out of their homes. The Los Angeles County fire chief estimates that more than 1,000 structures have been destroyed by the flames.
"It's impossible to process what has happened there. The entire town of Pacific Palisades, where I raised my kids . . . gone. It's gone," Laurie David said. "It feels like the end of the Earth."
"This is climate change"
David, who produced the Oscar-winning 2006 documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" about global warming, called the disaster a "dose of reality."
"Of course this is climate change, this is global warming, and we've got to start addressing this in a meaningful way," she said.
Once the fires are put out, David said "there's going to be a lot to do moving forward."
"There's going to be a lot of ways to help, there's going to be a lot of ways to pitch in," she said. "I think the library's gone, I think the park is gone. The schools, the grocery store, I think it's all gone."
