Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag. Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images
While many celebrities have gotten criticism for asking for donations after wildfire destruction, Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag are telling Us why they aren’t bothered by the “backlash.”
“We’re very used to negative things, so it’s pretty standard,” Pratt, 41, exclusively told Us Weekly on Wednesday, January 15. “If people want to send their own money to whoever they want, it’s the equivalent to buying a celebrity’s merch, buying their movie tickets. People can do whatever they want with their own money and, thank God, there’s people who want to support and send us whatever.”
He added, “Nobody’s required to, and it’s not a tax. People can say whatever they want and they’re entitled to their opinion. But, all the people that are messaging, they’re asking to send money, they’re asking to do the Amazon wishlist. … These are their choices.”
Pratt and Montag, 38, lost their Los Angeles home in the ongoing wildfires that have devastated Southern California earlier this month. The natural disaster engulfed thousands of acres and led to at least 25 deaths. Many residents, including The Hills alums, evacuated the city limits following governmental orders.
Pratt and Montag left the area with their sons Gunner, 6, and Ryker, 2, with only a few personal effects. After losing most of their belongings, a pair of TikTok followers created a GoFundMe campaign on Pratt and Montag’s behalf.
“When this first happened, that first day, they created a GoFundMe on their own and it just kept on doing great and so amazing,” Pratt recalled. “And then they transferred it over to us. We’re so thankful for them doing that and they set up the Amazon wishlist.”
Montag further stressed that neither she nor Pratt wanted to ask for contributions.
“Then our friends Brandon and Courtney [from TikTok] were like, ‘We don’t care what you say. We know people who want to donate money to you and even if it’s one donation that’s going to help you,’” she told Us. “So, we had no expectation of anyone donating. I haven’t posted it, but we’ve had so many people wanting to give $5.”
According to the GoFundMe, the Pratts have raised over $134,000 so far and some of the generosity is as small as $5, but it’s not the amount that matters — the gift itself means so much more.
“People are like, ‘Oh, they’re asking for money,’ That’s a coffee for somebody, so somebody bought us a coffee,” he explained. “It’s just in volume, so it may look like all it’s money, but scroll [through and see] it’s just people sending you a latte.”
“There’s some people that it’s a bigger number and I thanked every single person.”
Pratt further theorized that the supposed backlash came from those who falsely believe that celebrities are all extremely wealthy.
“Nobody thought we were rich celebrities until three days ago and it’s getting frustrating. Like if you Google ‘Spencer,’ it literally [says] ‘Broke, no net worth,’” Pratt said on Wednesday. “My net worth on that site that you search for the last 15 years … has been $1,000. So now our house burns down, my parents’ house burns down [and] now we’re rich celebrities, which is infuriating because the media, respectfully, has never called us celebrities [and] never called us rich.”
He added, “It’s this weird disconnect that we’re getting grouped in with actual rich celebrities, which it’s great if we were … but we’re not, people know that.”
According to Pratt, it is “just haters” who are calling him and Montag out.
“There’s nobody with a brain [who] thinks we’re rich celebrities. It’s like these are just hater people trolling,” he said. “The people [who] are supporting us and have been following our lifestyle on social media, they see we’re not rich celebrities. They see what we do every day. We have been posting our life on Snapchat for the last 11 years, all day long. Our audience knows we’re not rich celebrities, they know we just eat Mexican food and we get organic eggs and they know we do it. We film everything.”
In addition to GoFundMe and Amazon Wishlist donations, Pratt and Montag also have funds coming in from their respective business ventures and social media uploads. Many fans have purchased crystals from his Pratt Daddy Crystals shop as well as frequently streaming Montag’s past music and buying her accompanying merch. (They are also members of the TikTok Creator Fund, where the app pays influencers for each popular video that gains authentic engagement, as well as a similar program on Snapchat.)
“Heidi’s No. 1 in 13 countries, I didn’t know people in Oman were going to support Heidi, Netherlands, Philippines, Saudi, I mean all these countries that I hope, God willing, and she becomes a global superstar,” Pratt gushed. “We could go visit and hug these people that were there for us when we needed it the most.”
Stars have been showing their support for Heidi Montag and her music after husband Spencer Pratt asked for help following the loss of their home in the Los Angeles wildfires. “Thank you so much to everyone. No. 1 on iTunes chart, oh my gosh,” Montag shared via a Saturday, January 11, Instagram Story. “Thank you […]
Their former MTV costars Kristin Cavallari, Audrina Patridge and Lo Bosworth have also filmed themselves dancing to tracks from Montag’s 2010 Superficial in respective videos.
“The overwhelming support of these people using their platforms to help us when they know how influential their platforms are, and how important every single post is to them and their brands and to ask the people who follow them to rally behind us and to help us — it’s amazing,” Montag gushed. “We’ve never experienced that kind of support or kindness or acknowledgment even and for something that’s so important has just been really heartwarming.”
Pratt, who noted they are planning to rebuild their family home, has recently been candid about their financial situation in recent social media videos.
“We put all of our money into our house and our life to build something for our kids to put in their name and every detail we just kept on every year for the last eight years,” he told Us. “Our house was 3,000 square feet. It is not a mansion in the Palisades. Everything was perfect from the stoves to the washing machines. That’s all we put our money into — and then we go and eat nice groceries at Erewhon. But our life was like, ‘Put our money into our house, eat clean groceries and that’s it.’ We go on one trip a year to see Heidi’s parents in Colorado.”
Pratt continued, “Any money we make from any TV opportunities or social media opportunities is just check to check. So the whole like, ‘Oh, Heidi and Spencer [are] these rich celebrities ask for money.’ I wish I was a rich celebrity, I keep saying I’d be in Cabo right now eating tacos.”
Check the LAFD website for local wildfire alerts and click here for resources on how to help those affected.
With reporting by Andrea Simpson