Jhene Aiko Reflects on Losing Her Home During Los Angeles Fires and Finding Strength
Jhene Aiko has opened up about the devastating loss she faced this year after her home was destroyed in the L.A. wildfires.
While accepting the Glow Getter Award at Femme It Forward’s Give Her FlowHers Ceremony, the singer reflected on what she described as a season that kept knocking her off balance.
The “Triggered” singer told the room she had finally reached a place where she felt “balanced and in a great place,” only to watch the dream home she had spent “a few years renovating” disappear in the fires.
But losing her house wasn’t the only blow.
As Aiko continued her speech, she revealed that the spiral of grief didn’t stop there.
“And then I lost my cousin Justin whom I was really close with. Then I lost my sweet little orange kitten,” she shared, explaining how the hits came one after another.
“It just seemed like back to back to back to back things, and I was just like, ‘Okay, God, what is the lesson in all this?’”
Her reflection took her back to her childhood, to another fire, another home lost, and the quiet strength she witnessed from her mother in the aftermath.
She remembered watching her mom navigate that moment with an unshakeable calm.
“She handled it with so much grace, and she never let us feel any type of sadness or any type of sorrow,” Aiko said.
As kids, she admitted, the experience barely felt like a tragedy.
Living in the Embassy Suites with “free breakfast” and an “indoor pool,” she and her siblings “thought it was cool.”
So when her own home burned this year, she found herself pulling from the blueprint her mother set, a reminder that resilience can be inherited.
By the end of her speech, Aiko redirected the spotlight.
The flowers she held, she said, belonged to her village and the loved ones who kept her grounded while she clawed her way out of what she called a “dark place.”
Earlier this year, the “Speak” singer also shared the news publicly, reassuring fans that while everything she owned had been lost, what mattered most had survived, according to a report from BET.com.
“Me and my children’s home is gone. Burned to the ground with all of our things inside. Lord have mercy. Thankful we still have each other.”
She extended her heart to every family affected by the fires, adding, “Praying for everyone affected by these fires. We will get through this.”
