The Pacific Palisades home where “Friends” star Matthew Perry died has been engulfed in the deadly Los Angeles wildfires—less than three months after it was bought by a real estate developer for $8.55 million.
According to live maps tracking the blaze, the four-bedroom, five-bathroom dwelling—which is where Perry was discovered face down in a hot tub in October 2023—is surrounded by the fires, which have now spread across close to 3,000 acres in Pacific Palisades, Malibu, and Santa Monica.
The home’s new owner, developer, and movie producer Anita Verma-Lallian, has not yet commented on the state of the property, although she did share an Instagram Story about the wildfires’ swift progression late on Jan. 7, before the infernos had reached the house.
She later confirmed that her family was “safe” and “awaiting updates.”
Realtor.com® has reached out to Verma-Lallian for comment.
The developer, who is based in Scottsdale, AZ, purchased the home on Oct. 16, 2024, according to property records; and just a few days later, she shared some insights into her plans for the dwelling, explaining in an Instagram post that she hoped to “honor” Perry’s legacy, while maintaining some of the more unique touches he added during his ownership.
“The moment I walked into the home, I absolutely fell in love with the features, especially the view of the Pacific Ocean. We knew it was ‘the one’ and decided to write an offer on it immediately,” she explained in the caption of her Oct. 31 post.
Verma-Lallian went on to note that, while she does plan to make changes to the home, she has no desire to scrub away all of the unique elements that Perry installed while he was living there—insisting that she will be keeping the Batman logo that the actor had laid into the floor of his pool.
“We do plan to keep some of the design elements. The Batman logo in the pool is definitely staying,” she wrote.
It is unclear whether Verma-Lallian had made any headway with her plans for the property ahead of the outbreak of the wildfires, which began spreading swiftly through Pacific Palisades on Jan. 7, their progress made all the more severe as a result of high wind speeds.
However, several other residents on the street have shared harrowing footage of the fires approaching their homes as they evacuated the area, capturing huge flames towering behind their properties.
The Los Angeles County fire chief revealed on Jan. 8 that so far at least 1,000 structures were burned to the ground by the massive blaze and two people were killed. It was not immediately clear what share of the destroyed properties were private homes.
About 30,000 residents were under evacuation orders, and more than 13,000 structures were under threat.
California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency and posted on X early Jan. 8 that more than 1,400 firefighters had been deployed to tackle the wildfires.
Dozens of celebrities were forced to flee their homes amid the deadly blaze—which destroyed a house owned by reality stars Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag, as well as hundreds of other residences.
Perry moved into the celebrity-loved enclave back in 2020, when he purchased the property for $6 million. During his ownership, the actor made several updates to the home, which was built in 1965, including the addition of a raised pool overlooking the ocean.
That three-bedroom, 3.5-bathroom dwelling is thought to have been the last real estate investment made by Perry before he died.
However, during his lifetime, the on-screen star bought and sold numerous homes in the Los Angeles area.
The same month Perry closed on the Pacific Palisades property, he listed his Malibu beach house for a staggering $14.95 million, although he ultimately ended up selling the home for $13.1 million in January 2021, having slashed the price two times in an attempt to find a buyer.
Later in 2021, he sold his 9,300-square-foot “mansion in the sky” penthouse in Los Angeles for $21.6 million, a significant discount from its initial $35 million price tag—but still more than the $20 million he paid for it in 2017.
