Featured Image Credit: TikTok/spencerpratt
Topics: Wildfires, Los Angeles, GoFundMe, Celebrity
Callum Jones
Topics: Wildfires, Los Angeles, GoFundMe, Celebrity
Spencer Pratt has explained why he and his family are not 'rich' after receiving backlash to an LA wildfire GoFundMe page.
Los Angeles and the surrounding areas have been battered by a number of different wildfires rapidly spreading after first emerging in Pacific Palisades.
At least 28 people are said to have died as a result of the fires, while more than 18,000 structures have been damaged or destroyed.
One home that was completely devastated in the fire belongs to Pratt and Heidi Montag - but, thankfully, the family were able to escape the blaze.
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The former reality TV star explained to Perez Hilton how he sought the help of Los Angeles Fire Department as his house went up in flames.
He said: "They never came. The gate was still locked. They never came. I watched from my security cameras until our house burned down. There were no fire trucks."
Pratt also took to TikTok to share his devastating story, saying: "I know people are like, ‘You’re rich, you will be fine.’ Yeah, I wish. Everything in our house was paid for by Heidi and I hustling any way we could.
"Everything we have worked for was in this house… we are starting at zero now.”
Just days after that video was posted, two of the couple's friends set up a GoFundMe page for the family, which has surpassed $139,000 so far.
"Spencer, Heidi, and their boys lost everything in the Pacific Palisades fire," the fundraiser stated.
"I set this up for them to help them rebuild after losing everything they owned in the fire. The money will go directly to them and it will be used at their discretion to rebuild their lives. They need to buy everything, clothes, food, household items, etc."
The set up of a GoFundMe received some backlash online, considering Pratt and his wife are both celebrities.
Many argued they don't need other people's money to get back on their feet.
However, Pratt has since responded to all the noise, telling People: "If we were rich, I wouldn't be on an app. I'd be buying a new house and starting to order things. So, I don't think we would've shared anything vulnerable.
"[Social media] is how we already made money before. That's our way of life. Heidi and I have been Snapchatting every day probably for eight years, our whole life."
He added: "So, especially when your house and everything's gone, you're not going to be like, 'Oh, I'm going to stop doing the one thing that pays us.'
"I don't think we would've shared anything — honestly — if we didn't need money."