Ricki Lake lost her home in the Los Angeles wildfires, and this was devastating as she had to start over again. Not only did she lose her home, but the contents within it, many of which were priceless to her. But there was one small silver lining when she was able to get back some old family photos.
Ricki Lake Shares a Heartfelt Story
Lake recently appeared on “The Kelly Clarkson Show,” hosted by “American Idol” winner Kelly Clarkson. While on the show, she shared the story of how she came to find her photographs. A video clip of her was shared on the Instagram page for “The Kelly Clarkson Show” with the caption, “Ricki Lake shares the miraculous story of how she recovered family photos lost during the LA Fires, thanks to a stranger on social media.”
In the clip, Lake is retelling the story and how, in this case, social media was “magic.” She revealed how artist Patty Scanlon found a box of her photos at the Pasadena Flea Market. “She likes to paint women, and she likes color photos for some reason,” Lake shared of how her photos came to be in Scanlon’s possession. “Now, I lost every photo album in my house. Everything of my children that were pre-iCloud, pre-iPhone, gone. My grandparents photo albums, gone.”
Lake continued, “Anyway, she got these pictures to me. These are my personal photos.” But these photos were not in her home; they were copies of her photos that other family members had of her. Although she doesn’t know how they ended up at the flea market.
The Remarkable Photo Story
Lake’s story starts with artist Patty Scanlon purchasing a box of photos from the Pasadena Flea Market in December 2025 and realizing they were of Lake and her son, Milo, when he was a baby. To get Lake’s attention, Scanlon shared the photographs on Instagram on December 8.
“Anybody know how to contact Ricki Lake? I picked up some found photos at Pasadena City College Flea Market and the box seems to be full of A LOT of photos of #Rickilake @rickilake! I think she may WANT these. She may not have copies! Thank you!!!!” Scanlon wrote in the caption.
Fans flooded the post with reactions, “THIS is when the internet just rocks,” a comment reads. “There’s got to be a wild story as to how they ended up there!” another shared. Other reactions include, “This is unbelievable, so happy for you,” “Wow. Wow. Wow,” and “@rickilake I was so devastated for you after the fire, and this is like the universe saying how wonderful and deserving you are of good things. I’m so happy for you!”
The post generated so much interest that Lake saw it as well. She reacted, writing, “I’m still in complete disbelief.”
