Devastation and chaos currently reign in California as firefighters battle contain multiple wildfires in the Los Angeles region. Police have confirmed five deaths, with that number expected to rise, and 2,000 structures destroyed. Country singer Brad Paisley took to social media Wednesday (Jan. 8) to mourn the loss of his family’s first-ever home in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood. And on Thursday (Jan. 9), R&B singer-songwriter Jhené Aiko confirmed that she and her children also lost their own home to the same blaze.
[RELATED: Reba McEntire Speaks on Los Angeles Wildfires: “Our Hearts Are Broken”]
Aiko added that she is praying for everyone who has lost their homes, their life’s work and their pets, along with “my city” and its wildlife.
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According to ABC News, the Palisades Fire remained 0 percent contained as of 4:20 p.m. Eastern Thursday (Jan. 9.) More than 180,000 people have been ordered to flee their homes throughout southern California.
Jhene Aiko Has Weathered Hardship Before
Jhene Aiko is certainly no stranger to tragedy—or losing everything in a devastating house fire. When the alt-R&B phenom was in second grade, her family’s South Los Angeles home burned to the ground. Later, feeling excluded by her classmates because of her ethnicity (she is of Japanese, Native American, Dominican, Black and Jewish descent) Aiko asked to be homeschooled.
At age 16, she enrolled in West Los Angeles College and started taking voice lessons — but then she got pregnant. Still, these setbacks didn’t stop her from releasing three commercially successful albums and scoring multiple Grammy nods. Her song, “Guidance,” is nominated at this year’s ceremony for Best R&B Performance.
“[My family] have always [been like] that movie A Series of Unfortunate Events,” Aiko, now 36, told LA Weekly in 2012. “The moment is the only thing that’s real. If you can’t be happy in this moment, you can’t be happy
