Natural disasters always radically uproot a person’s life. Hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, all of them can cause you to lose everything. It’s an emotional, financial nightmare that creates unspeakable stress. When the L.A. wildfires took place earlier this year in January, tons of families lost irreplaceable memories, and entire livelihoods were burnt to ash. The best-case scenario for some people was to deal with unfathomable smoke and smog in the air. Jhené Aiko was among many affected by the relentless fires in Southern California. Now, she’s opening up about everything she lost in the wreckage.
Recently, Aiko gave an acceptance speech at Femme It Forward’s Give Her FlowHers Ceremony (captured by outlets like People). There, she talked about how suddenly life can create whiplash in one’s life. “I was balanced, and in a great place, and then, this year, I lost my dream home that I spent a few years renovating in the L.A. wildfires,” Aiko explains. “Then I lost my cousin Justin whom I was really close with. Then I lost my sweet little orange kitten.”
Jhené Aiko Talks About the Mental Health Battles She Dealt With After Tragic LA Fires
Ultimately, the R&B singer kept trying to find meaning amidst all of the tragedy. As she desperately tried to understand the awful hand life was giving her, she reflected on how her mom took on the woes of life. “I remember my mother, how she handled it with so much grace, and she never let us feel any type of sadness or any type of sorrow,” Jhené Aiko recalls. “We kind of thought it was cool because we got to live in the Embassy Suites [with] free breakfast, indoor pool. We were like, ‘Wow, this is nice.’ So when my house burned down this year. I remember how she handled that so gracefully.”
Nowadays, Aiko finds some semblance of peace by relying on her “village” of loved ones. Her longtime boyfriend Big Sean, her two kids, and her family keep her afloat whenever she ruminates on the dark times in 2025. Consequently, Aiko deflects from accepting her award alone. Instead, she feels it’s important to uplift those who helped her along the way. “I honestly cannot accept these flowers,” she says. “These are their flowers.”
Aiko eventually returned to the place she used to call home in April. At the time, she shared pictures of the aftermath on Instagram. Moreover, she explains the only way she could find catharsis during a time like that. “Sometimes a sigh is not enough…you gotta scream ‘F————!!!’ at the top of your lungs,” Aiko writes at the time.
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