Oscar-winning actor and director Mel Gibson has downplayed the loss of his $14.5 million Malibu home in a raging wildfire, insisting it was all just “just a thing” after all.
“I'm watching a video of the ruins of what was once your home. How are you doing?” asked NewsNation journalist Elizabeth Vargas, who interviewed Gibson by phone.
“I'm doing great, it's just that,” the Christian actor replied. “But it's obviously emotionally devastating. You know, you've lived there for a long time. And you had all the 'stuff'… George Carlin Remember when we talked about your “stuff”?
“I left all my 'stuff' there, and now that it's all cinders, I feel like I've been relieved of the burden of baggage,” he added.
Gibson referenced a famous skit by comedian George Carlin in which he argued that “a house is just a pile of stuff with a lid on it.”
“You can see it when the plane takes off. You look down and you see everyone loading their bags little by little. The little things were piled up,” Carlin said.
“That's your home. It's a place where you keep things while you go out and… get more stuff,” he said.
“Well, at least I don't have those pesky plumbing problems anymore,” Gibson joked during the interview.
“I've never seen a place burn so perfectly. Can I put it in an urn?'' he said.
“Some of the neighbors were really having a hard time,” Gibson said. “You know, actor Ed Harris lives down the street, but I think his house is gone, and I have a lot of my friends up and down the street. And it's kind of random. Not in all places, but in quite a few places.”
“There were about a dozen places that didn't exist, so there was nothing there but a chimney and some roof tiles, and I didn't have the courage to walk around looking for nails,” he told Vargas.
“It was completely burnt. It looked like someone did it on purpose,” he said. “It was a perfect firestorm. So my house was like Dresden.”
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“It's emotional. I lived there for 14, 15 years, so it was my home,” the Braveheart star reflected.
“There was a lot of personal stuff in there that I couldn’t go back to… there was all sorts of stuff from photos to files… personal stuff that I had over the years, clothes, some pretty cool stuff. Even things, you know, can all be replaced. These are just things,” he pointed out.
“The good news is that my family and the people I love are all fine and we're all healthy and happy and out of harm's way. That's all I really care about.” he said.
