RHOBH’s Bozoma Saint John Shares ‘Unimaginable Loss’ of Her Malibu Home Amid Wildfires
“The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star Bozoma Saint John has been faced with the devastation of losing her Malibu home amid the ongoing California wildfires.
On January 9, Saint John memorialized her former home in an Instagram carousel, posting old pictures of herself and her daughter, Lael, 15, enjoying their time in the residence, along with new photos of its unfortunate destruction. Saint John’s late husband, Peter, died in 2013 after a battle with cancer, which surely added to the reality show star’s “unimaginable loss.”
“This is the house I wanted. The house I prayed for. The house I worked in blood, sweat, and tears for,” Saint John began in the devastating caption. “The house that I put a keypad instead of a keyhole in the front door because I wanted all my family and friends to have a code and use the house whenever they wanted.”
She continued, "This is the house where I found peace after battling with racist neighbors and a community that made me have to buy it in a trust within a trust so no one would know that a widowed, single Black woman with a teenager was buying on the exclusively-held beach."
Saint John expressed that the home was more than a refuge for herself and her daughter, but for other family members, particularly her sister.
“This was my EFF YOU I’m here house,” she wrote. “The house that I built a movie room dedicated to my sister so she could see her films in her own sanctuary. This is the house where I finally felt like I could choose to spend time… when I wanted to and how I wanted to.”
But along with a reported 9,000 California structures that have been damaged or destroyed, Saint John’s home has also perished to the wildfire.
“This is an unimaginable loss,” she wrote. “I grieve with the rest of Los Angeles as it burns… and even though I’ve found even words to write here, there’s nothing that I could say in this moment to describe this feeling.”
Since the Palisades Fire broke out early on Tuesday, January 7, partly due to strong winds and dry conditions, at least 130,000 individuals have been under mandatory evacuation orders, while a reported five people have died. The flames have also destroyed the residence of celebrities including Jhené Aiko and Tina Knowles.