After experiencing the loss of her Santa Monica home in the recent Los Angeles wildfires, Melissa Rivers is drawing strength from her parents’ resilience and her own witty coping mechanisms to navigate this “surreal” experience.

“I think like many people, it’s hard for us to fully grasp what’s happened,” says Rivers, 56, reflecting on the past week during which her home was destroyed. “There are moments when I find myself laughing, then I look around at what’s left of my life—just a few tote bags and some shopping bags from Macy’s.”

“But I’m focused on moving ahead,” she shares with YSL News. “That’s helping me stay grounded.”

As one of several celebrities affected by the fires, Rivers highlights the broader impact: “It’s not just individuals; an entire community has been wiped out. A whole town is gone.”

Last week, as she and her fiancé Steve Mitchel began preparing for possible evacuation due to the Palisades fire, they received urgent warnings prompting them to act quickly.

“People ask how long we had to prepare. Honestly, I can’t say. It was like a whirlwind—making sure we grabbed our passports, important documents, medications, food for our pets. It was chaotic,” Rivers explains, adding that she was able to save invaluable keepsakes like her late mother Joan Rivers’ Emmy, a photo of her late father Edgar Rosenberg, and a drawing of herself with her son, Cooper Endicott, created by Joan.

In just one week, she has moved three times. The first night, she and Mitchel stayed at her son’s apartment, which he had just begun sharing with friends, offering little more than a surfboard and a few outfits: “There were literally no towels or sheets.”

Following that, they stayed in a crowded hotel until they had to evacuate again. They eventually found refuge at a friend’s property that had recently become vacant and was far from the fires. Although they brought their cat along, Rivers’ dogs are currently being looked after by a friend.

“I honestly don’t think anyone who hasn’t been here can understand what this is like. I’m starting to feel angry,” Rivers expresses. “I’ve had two moments of crying—one for five minutes and another for 40. I feel like I don’t have time for that; nobody does.”

This sentiment resonates with an uplifting quote from her mother that Rivers posted on Instagram recently: “You can’t change what happened. So have a little wallow, feel very sorry for yourself, and then get up and move forward.” She has also been “heavily relying” on wisdom from her father and embraces a family motto inspired by Winston Churchill: “When you find yourself in hell, keep walking.” Rivers affirms, “I am my parents’ daughter.”

“I’m finding solace in comforting others and checking in on them, as it distracts me from my own feelings. Though I know that I’ll need to confront my emotions eventually,” she laughs.

Currently, Rivers is “not allowing myself to dwell on the past,” even as she acknowledges that “we’ll have to sift through the wreckage” later. While some have already begun to explore the area, she notes, “The ground is still too hot to approach much of anything. My instinct is to dive right in and search, but we’ve decided to hold off for now.”

“We don’t need to stand around crying at this moment when there’s nothing we can do.”