The wildfires that tore through Southern California in January turned countless lives upside down, including some Young & The Restless stars. Eric Braeden, and Melissa Claire Egan lost their homes entirely. But while Joshua Morrow, who’s been playing Newman for three decades, didn’t lose his house, his community was completely devastated by the Palisades Fire. For him, witnessing the destruction firsthand was an emotional rollercoaster.
In a recent interview with Woman’s World, Morrow opened up about his family’s experience, and the strength it took to get through it all. L.A. is still picking up the pieces, but Morrow knows his family got lucky. Their home may have suffered smoke damage but it’s still standing. In fact, they even managed to grab their precious photos and valuables, and he still has a job he loves at Y&R.
But let’s be real, it was no walk in the park. Morrow, his wife Tobe, and their four kids—Cooper, Crew, who plays as Will Spencer on Bold and the Beautiful, Cash, and Charlie Jo—were left couch-surfing for over a month. With thousands of families displaced, finding a place was nearly impossible. “Mind you, we’re also six people, two dogs and a turtle. We’re not an easy family to help out and have in your space, because we take up a lot of bandwidth. It was a very stressful situation, and not knowing what we were going to do was pretty emotionally taxing,” he said.
A few days after the evacuation, Morrow and one of his sons went back to see what was left—and it wasn’t pretty. Smoldering mini fires were still burning on the hills, and entire homes were reduced to nothing but ash. It was even more heartbreaking for him to see his two very best friends in the world lost their homes completely. He described it as a horrible thing to see.
And one of the hardest moments? Telling Eric Braeden that his house hadn’t made it. Morrow recalled how many legendary parties had been thrown in that backyard, how much Braeden loved it there. “For it just to be gone is so difficult to wrap my head around, ” he said.
And just when they thought things couldn’t get worse, mudslides hit, wiping out the road to their home. That left the Morrows with a tough call: try to clean up and stay, or start fresh somewhere new? He admitted that while their house was still fixable, the neighborhood looked like something out of a disaster movie. “It looks like a bomb went off, “ he says. Sure, it’ll be rebuilt someday, but it’ll never be the same.
But what hurts the most for Morrow is to see his community suffering. He even got emotional talking about how his entire family’s life was rooted there. His kids grew up in those parks, went to those schools, and made memories in every little shop. “The best years of my life, without question, were formed there, and it’s just been wiped off the face of the earth. The memories I have, that’s all that’s left now,” Morrow added.
The Morrows Are Moving On!
For now, the Morrows are settling into their new home for at least a couple of years, but the future is still up in the air. Morrow admitted they have no idea if they’ll ever go back, and that uncertainty is tough to live with. He also admitted feeling guilty about leaving behind the place they loved so much, but his priority is making sure his family is safe and starting fresh.
Through it all, Morrow also had nothing but love for his wife, calling her the absolute backbone in this whole situation. “My wife shouldered most of this—picking up the pieces, finding this new place, and keeping us all together—because that’s who she is,” he said. “She runs her own company, and she’s a problem solver. She gets things done!”
The nightmare may be over for the Morrow but if they’ll ever go back is still up in question. But it’s amazing to see how much he loves and cares about the people and community around him.
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