Reality Star Lala Kent Flees Los Angeles as Fires Leave 4-Month-Old Daughter ‘Struggling to Breathe’

Lala Kent attends Summer Spectacular Benefiting the Brent Shapiro Foundation in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Sept. 10, 2022. Andrew Toth/Getty Images for Brent Shapiro Foundation

Lala Kent, a former cast member of the Bravo reality show “Vanderpump Rules,” has fled Los Angeles after smoke from ongoing wildfires made breathing difficult for her 4-month-old daughter.

“This morning Sosa woke up and was really struggling to breathe,” Kent, 34, wrote in an Instagram Story on Thursday.

“I made the decision to pack my family up and come to Palm Springs, strictly based on the air quality. This is where we will stay until LA is safe again.”

Kent welcomed her second child via a sperm donor in September 2024. The reality star is also the mother to 3-year-old daughter Ocean, whom she shares with her former fiancé, film producer Randall Emmett.

Kent described the multiple wildfires raging across parts of Los Angeles County as “one of the most devastating situations” she has ever witnessed.

The first brush fire erupted on Jan. 7 in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles.

Subsequent blazes broke out near Altadena, directly north of Pasadena, and in the Sepulveda Basin and Sylmar areas of the San Fernando Valley. Brush fires also ignited near Runyon Canyon in the Hollywood Hills and Acton, located northeast of Santa Clarita.

According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, firefighters have fully contained only the Sunset Fire in the Hollywood Hills and the Sepulveda Basin’s Woodley Fire. Powerful Santa Ana winds continue to fuel the remaining fires across Southern California.

“At this point, if you were not directly affected, you know someone who has lost everything,” Kent wrote.

“I’m obsessing over how we could be so underprepared. My heart is shattered for my community. Neighborhoods that people have called home for decades, now nonexistent. It is unimaginable.”

Kent, who purchased a home in the San Fernando Valley in March 2024, noted that the fires did not directly affect her.

“I’m trying to feel grateful for that—it’s hard because of what I’m seeing other people go through,” she wrote.

“In times like this all you want is to go home for comfort, and 1,000s of people don’t have their safe place anymore. There are looters, lack of water, and lack of preparation. I’m sad, but I’m angry.”

A U.S. flag flies as fire engulfs a structure while the Palisades Fire burns during a windstorm on the west side of Los Angeles, Calif., on Jan. 7, 2025. Ringo Chiu/Reuters

California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency on Jan. 7, shortly after the Palisades Fire broke out.

“This is a highly dangerous windstorm that’s creating extreme fire risk – and we’re not out of the woods. We’re already seeing the destructive impacts with this fire in Pacific Palisades that grew rapidly in a matter of minutes,” Newsom said in a statement on Tuesday.

“Our deepest thanks go to our expert firefighters and first responders who jumped quickly into fighting this dangerous fire. If you’re in Southern California, please pay attention to weather reports and follow any guidance from emergency officials.”

More than 150,000 residents have been forced to evacuate due to the fires, which have left at least 10 people dead and more than 10,000 structures destroyed.

Numerous celebrities, including Kent, have criticized Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass for the devastation caused by the fast-moving brush fires.

“I am not into politics. I don’t pretend that I know everything there is to know,” the Bravo star prefaced a separate Instagram Story.

“When I look around Los Angeles—when I look around many parts of California—I say not only is something not right but I don’t like what I see. I am a registered Democrat. I would say that I am a liberal person, I also will say Newsom and Bass got to go.”

Emmy Award-winning actress Patricia Heaton, known for her roles in “Everybody Loves Raymond” and “The Middle,” shared a similar sentiment on social media platform X.

The 66-year-old wrote that the “primary role of government is to secure infrastructure, make sure disaster preparedness is up to date, and protect citizens from harm both criminally and otherwise.”

“90210” actress Sara Foster pointed out that California residents pay the highest income tax rate of any state.

“Our fire hydrants were empty. Our vegetation was overgrown, brush not cleared,” the 43-year-old wrote on X.

“Our fire department budget was cut by our mayor. But thank god drug addicts are getting their drug kits. @MayorOfLA @GavinNewsom RESIGN.”