Annette Funicello Being Sued By Neighbors Over House Fire
Annette Funicello, one of the ‘Mouseketeers’ on the original Mickey Mouse Club, is being sued for a 2011 house fire that her neighbors claim caused residual damage to their homes.
The actress and singer’s Encino, CA abode was burned down in a March 2011 blaze (see above), and neighbors claim their properties were contaminated with toxins from the fire.
An additional claim states that nobody cleared the grounds of charred waste and debris. The neighbors are seeking $25k in damages, a sum they say will cover loss of wages, property damage and medical expenses. Funicello suffered smoke inhalation in the fire, but was otherwise unharmed.
TMZ obtained a copy of the lawsuit against Annette Funicello, but was unable to reach the performer for further comment. Funicello, 69, no longer resides at the damaged property.
Funicello has been acting and singing for almost six decades, and helped to popularize the ‘Beach Party’ genre with co-star Frankie Avalon.
However, she is perhaps best-known for her appearance on the first incarnation of the Mickey Mouse Club. A 12-year-old Funicello landed the role as a Mouseketeer after she was discovered by Walt Disney himself, while she performed as the Swan Queen in Swan Lake at a dance recital in Burbank, California. She was one of the only cast members to be personally selected by Walt Disney, and proved a huge hit with viewers – by the end of the first season of Mickey Mouse Club, the youngster was receiving 6,000 letters a month, according to her Disney Legends biography.
