Billy Crystal no longer trusts God.
After losing his home in the 2025 Pacific Palisades wildfires and killing his longtime collaborator Rob Reiner, the 78-year-old actor has a newfound skepticism, he told “CBS Sunday Morning” correspondent Tracy Smith in an interview that aired last weekend.
Smith asked Crystal if he had talked to God over the past two years, given that he chronicled his conversations with God in his 2004 Tony Award-winning play “700 Sundays” and is currently promoting his one-man Broadway show, “860,” premiering Oct. 21 at the Imperial Theater in New York.
“No, because I don’t trust him,” Crystal replied. “Too many bad things have happened. The Earth is in bad shape. It’s a strange and scary time, so no. Not anymore.”
This dramatic change in faith comes after Crystal and his wife Janice Crystal (née Goldfinger) lost their 1930s ranch in the Palisades wildfire in January 2025. The couple, married since 1970, purchased the stucco home in 1979 to raise their daughters Jenny, now 53, and Lindsay, 48.
Not much remains after the blazing devastation except for a few rocks etched with uplifting words like “welcome,” “patience” and “dream” that the family placed around the garden decades ago, he shared with People in a cover story published online Wednesday.
“Lindsay found the rock of laughter,” Crystal said. “So since it was the first thing (we found), everything will be fine.”
The Palisades Fire inspired “860,” which is titled after his personal address and addresses themes of luck and destiny.
“I started thinking about it in a way that I think separated me from the pain of what was happening,” Crystal told the outlet. “It was healing me at the same time.”
He emphasizes that the story is not about the fire itself, but rather a journey that highlights resilience, laughter and love and “facing things you never thought possible,” he shared.
The New York-born comedian first opened up about his personal pain in “700 Sundays,” his autobiographical one-man play that discussed the death of his father, who died of a heart attack when Crystal was 15 years old. The production won the Tony Award for Special Theatrical Event.
Reiner and Crystal met in 1976 on the set of the CBS sitcom “All in the Family” and quickly became friends. Encouragement from his longtime confidante and collaborator helped the comedian write about the loss of his beloved home before Reiner’s tragic murder in December 2025 alongside his wife, Michele, in Brentwood.
The “Monsters, Inc.” voice actor called their chemistry “indefinable.”
“I knew it from the first time we met. I knew it from the first week: ‘This is going to be a forever thing, I know that,'” Crystal told People. “We laughed. We talked about all sorts of things. We were always interested in what each other was doing and grateful that we both had the chance to do something even if we split up on projects.”
The actor also shared that he wasn’t the first choice when it came to the role of Harry in “When Harry Met Sally…”, but after considering other actors – including Albert Brooks, Tom Hanks and Michael Keaton – Reiner approached Crystal as if it were a scene from the 1989 romantic comedy itself.
“One day the call came in and he was almost upset saying, ‘I always knew it was you,'” Crystal said.
While preparing for the premiere of “860,” which runs through Jan. 3, Crystal recalled a brief moment when he forgot Reiner was gone.
“I ran upstairs to the locker room and my first thought was, ‘I need to call Rob and tell him,’” Crystal said. “I don’t know if I don’t want this to continue to happen or if I want this to continue to happen.”
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