It was a perfectly ordinary celebrity Instagram post for the first week of 2025, which is to say, it was nightmarish, but in a way that we’ve grown accustomed to.
The actor and musician Mandy Moore was one of many entertainers to lose part of her home to wildfire in Altadena, California, last week. In her post upon returning to the neighborhood, photos bearing the jaundiced cast of wildfire smoke reveal rubble, charred trees, and an exterior staircase on the verge of collapse. Moore’s captions cataloged further losses: her husband’s studio and instruments, her children’s school, and the home of her brother-in-law and his wife, who are expecting their first child within weeks.
