Young & Restless’ Eric Braeden Makes a Tearful Return to the Site of His Former Home: ‘I Didn’t Think It Would Hit Me This Much’
Young & Restless’ Eric Braeden Makes a Tearful Return to the Site of His Former Home: ‘I Didn’t Think It Would Hit Me This Much’
Credit: ET screenshot
When Eric Braeden returned home — or to the property that was once his home — he didn’t go alone. Entertainment Tonight accompanied him. “I left as Rogers Park was burning,” he said. “[The fire] hadn’t jumped the canyon yet.”
Sadly, jump it did. As the Young & Restless legend approached his old address, he marveled, “Oh boy. Look at that. It’s all burned down, man.” The Emmy winner had spent 45 years at that residence with his family, and it was all reduced to rubble.
Needless to say, Victor’s portrayer was deeply affected — more so than even he had anticipated. “I didn’t think it would hit me this much,” he admitted. “I’m devastated.”
As Braeden looked out at the devastation, he was struck by “all the memories. I don’t want my family to see this.” Even as he watched the news of what was transpiring, “I never imagined this.”
Braeden went on to recall his son’s high school blowouts and the Christmas songs that had been sung at this most special of locations. “I grew up during the second World War. The destruction was the same. I always thought if that hillside there goes aflame, it could easily jump. And it never has in 45 years. And now it did.
“It’s such a feeling of loss. Indescribable,” he continued. “It leaves you totally disoriented.”
Braeden may have been down, but he was most definitely not out. He expressed his hope that he and his wife would rebuild. “We’re getting on in age, but… ”
Later in the emotional interview, Braeden recalled that he’d looked at some 30 homes in the area before settling on his. “I knew it [was the one] instantly,” he said. Only afterwards did he find out that it had previously belonged to a writer for Seinfeld, “one of the shows that I admired the most.”
