Jillian Michaels says it's 'unfortunate' celebrity-packed Malibu got so much media coverage during California wildfires

Raechal Shewfelt
·Editor, Yahoo Entertainment

Jillian Michaels is one of the nearly 10,000 Californians who lost a home in the wildfires that continue to blaze, albeit in over a much reduced acreage, thanks to tireless firefighters. But while speaking with Yahoo Lifestyle about the devastation, she deflected attention away from herself — and her more privileged neighbors.

“What’s so unfortunate is that Malibu was getting a lot of coverage,” Michaels says. “This celebrity’s house and that celebrity’s house. … We are well insured. We have the resources to rebuild. We had a game plan, we had help in place, but a lot of people didn’t.”

Michaels made a plea for monetary donations for people whom the fires left with nothing.

“You could give old clothes and old shoes, but right now, people need … they need money, they need help,” she pleads.

The former Biggest Loser trainer explained that she donated to causes close to her heart, especially those protecting animals.

“I gave to the volunteers at the Paradise animal shelter, because that burned down. I gave to the Ventura County Humane Society, because those guys were taking in all the animals,” Michaels says. “I gave to the California Wildlife Fund, [which] was identifying individuals that needed help. I went on GoFundMe and looked at different stories from Northern California and Southern California, to help individuals whose causes spoke to me. There are thousands of people — thousands — that lost their homes. There’s like a thousand people still missing right now. People need help desperately, and, if you can help, please do in any way that you can.”

Michaels revealed that her 7-acre farm, with “a ton of animals on it, all rescues” suffered cracked cement and melted equipment. “I would imagine that’s what Nagasaki looked like after a bomb was dropped,” she says.

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