Joshua Jackson will not be pulled down, even after losing his home in the Los Angeles fires.
The actor is looking at the tragedy as an opportunity for a fresh start. The Doctor Odyssey star, 46, recently opened up about losing his longtime home in January’s devastating Palisades Fire—and surprisingly, he’s choosing to look on the bright side.
During his March 5 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Jackson reflected on the emotional toll of losing his house in Topanga, California—a place that held decades of memories.
“It [was] my childhood home and it is the place I’ve lived on and off for the last 25 years,” he shared.
Jackson had previously confirmed the loss on January 12, revealing that the house where he grew up—and later repurchased as an adult—was completely destroyed as wildfires swept through the Los Angeles area.
On The Tonight Show, he admitted that adjusting to life without it hasn’t been easy, especially while finding temporary housing for his 4-year-old daughter, Juno.
“Everybody’s safe,” he reassured Jimmy Fallon. “It’s devastating. It’s an interesting thing to wake up one morning and all you own is a grungy sweatsuit and a pair of shoes.”
Despite the hardship, Jackson has found peace in revisiting the remains of his former home.
“When I went to go see it, I’m standing in front of this thing and it’s still literally smoking,” he recalled.
“I’m looking at it and [I realized] this bears no relation to my home. This is just a pile of stuff that burned in a fire.”
Rather than dwell on the loss, the Dawson’s Creek alum surprised Fallon’s audience with a surprisingly positive outlook.
“I’m actually excited” to rebuild, he revealed, seeing it as an opportunity to create a new space for his daughter.
“That house has given me so much over the years. I have loved it and it has loved me,” he reflected. “It has everything — the heartbreak, the baby, just life. All of life is in there. Every floorboard is a piece of my story.”
Now, he’s focused on creating a new home filled with fresh memories.
“I’m excited to build a new house that doesn’t have all of daddy’s history in it. It is for [my daughter] and I, so that when she grows up, every floorboard has her story in it … It’s not how I would have chosen to do a remodel but, in some ways, I’m actually excited about the process.”
His optimistic approach mirrors his initial reaction in January when he shared that “all the people closest to [him] affected by the fire [were] OK.”
“My daughter, my family, my neighbors all made it out safely,” he wrote at the time. “Sadly, my beautiful home did not survive the fires. But today, I feel incredibly lucky to be surrounded by the people I love.”
Jackson originally bought back his childhood home as a way to reconnect with his past.
“My father, unfortunately, was not a good father or a husband and exited the scene, but that house in Topanga was where everything felt simple,” he shared in 2021.
Despite everything, Jackson is embracing the future—and while he may have lost a house, he’s determined to build a home.
