“It’s not lost on me, life imitating art,” the actor, whose ‘This Is Us’ character died of smoke inhalation, said

Milo Ventimiglia is opening up about the destruction of his Malibu, Calif., home suffered during the ongoing Los Angeles wildfires. 

The This Is Us star, 47, spoke with CBS Evening News in a Thursday, Jan. 9 broadcast about how he and his wife Jarah Mariano’s home burned down by the Palisades fire. Mariano is nine months pregnant with their first child.

The couple evacuated their home on Tuesday, Jan. 7. They grabbed everything that they could, but Ventimiglia told CBS News that everything in their baby’s nursery was destroyed. They later watched flames take over their home via security cameras.

“I think there’s a kind of shock moment where you going, ‘Oh, this is real. This is happening,’ ” he said of watching the footage of their home burn down. “Then, at a certain point, we just turn it off. It’s like, ‘What? What good is it to continue watching?’ … We kind of accepted the loss.”

“You start thinking about all the memories in different parts of the house and whatnot,” Ventimiglia said. “And then you see your neighbors’ houses and everything, kind of around, and your heart just breaks.”

“We got good friends, and we got good people we’re working with, and we’ll make due. We’ll make due. Wife and baby and dog most important,” he said.

The actor, who is known for his role in This Is Us as Jack Pearson also commented on how his recent circumstances have mirrored his character’s fate. In the show, Jack dies of smoke inhalation after the Pearson family home burns down.

“It’s not lost on me, life imitating art,” Ventimiglia said of the stark similarities.

After the episode aired in 2018, he told Variety how impactful it was to film such a traumatic scene.

“There was fire right in front of me. Standing feet away from it, there were moments where the hiss of the gas line of fire — it’s kind of a high-pitched whine — would be completely overtaken by the score of real fire, which is deep and booming and angry and something that I hope many, many people never have to face,” he said.

Ventimiglia later became an advocate for fire safety. As a result of the recent fires, Ventimiglia said he is now interested in also advocating for wildfire safety.

Over 100,000 residents are under evacuation orders as of Thursday, Jan. 9, due to the Eaton Fire and Palisades Fire. City officials reported five fatalities on Wednesday, though a concrete toll has yet to be determined.