Hollywood icon Meryl Streep nearly died trying to escape her home during the raging Los Angeles-area wildfires that ravaged the region.
In an interview with New York Magazine, Streep’s nephew detailed how her aunt was lucky to escape death during the evacuations.
Abe Streep, Meryl’s nephew, shared that a tree fell onto his aunt’s driveway, which blocked her only exit from her home.
“Evacuation mandates were sent across the city,” Abe wrote.
“My aunt Meryl Streep received an order to evacuate on January 8, but when she tried to leave, she discovered that a large tree had fallen over in her driveway, blocking her only exit.
“Determined to make it out, she borrowed wire cutters from a neighbor, cut a car-size hole in the fence she shared with the neighbors on the other side, and drove through their yard to escape.”
Meryl Streep escaped from L.A. wildfires by cutting ‘car-size hole in fence’ https://t.co/M3tCGuhNvU pic.twitter.com/3wehfWYF2u
— The News-Herald (@NewsHeraldMI) January 29, 2025
Representatives for Streep have not commented on the article.
The New York Magazine, Abe Streep also spoke to his aunt’s “Only Murders In the Building” co-star, Martin Short, about his evacuation experience.
Short, who moved to the Pacific Palisades neighborhood in 1984, told Abe, “Right away I knew this is where I wanted to live. You’re five minutes from the ocean or five minutes from the greatest hiking in the mountains imaginable.”
Short told Abe that the safety of the Pacific Palisades neighborhood stood out to him.
“There was only one way in and one way out,” he explained.
Short explained that once he was notified to evacuate, he collected family photo albums and got into his car. It took him an hour to leave the Pacific Palisades neighborhood due to people abandoning cars and blocking the roads.
Authorities announced earlier this week that the death toll from the LA Fires had risen to 29.
According to Cal Fire, the Palisades Fire destroyed 6,837 homes and other buildings and burned 23,448 acres.
As of Tuesday morning, the fire was 95% contained.