Celebrity home sales soared in 2016 as housing markets in Southern California and elsewhere continued to rebound from the Great Recession. While you may not recognize your life in theirs, the reasons celebrities pull up stakes aren’t worlds away from our own: marriage, divorce, new job, new family, upsizing and downsizing.
DIVORCE
One of the year’s most surprising celebrity home sales stemmed from the shocking divorce of actors Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. The A-List couple began untangling their real estate holdings, starting with their jointly-owned home in New Orleans’ French Quarter for a reported $4.9 million. They’ve also listed Chateau Miraval, their villa and winery in the south of France, and SoCal homes in Los Feliz and Santa Barbara.
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s former home at 521 Governor Street in New Orleans. via Zillow
Another acting couple calling it quits is Megan Fox and Brian Austin Green. The pair sold their SoCal home in Toluca Lake, once owned by crooner Bing Crosby, for $2.6 million. The 29-year-old Fox is best known for her film roles in “Transformers” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles;” the 42-year-old Green for his television roles in “Beverly Hills, 90210, “Anger Management” and “Desperate Housewives.” Who bought the house? That would be “All About That Bass” singer Meghan Trainor.
Speaking of TV, actress/comedian Aisha Tyler, who stars on “Criminal Minds” and co-hosts “The Talk,” unloaded her lovely Midcentury Modern home in L.A. for $2 million. Tyler listed the home just weeks after ending her 23-year marriage.
And although his divorce from actress Katie Holmes became final in 2012, megastar Tom Cruise continues to right-size his real estate portfolio. This year, he jettisoned his 1.3-acre Beverly Hills compound for $38 million. Last year, the “Jack Reacher” and “Mission: Impossible” action hero sold another heavenly Hills mansion to actress Eva Longoria for $11.4 million. Yet to sell: his 300-acre ranch near Telluride, Colorado, listed for a cool $59 million.
Actress Eva Longoria snapped up Tom Cruise’s Hollywood Hills estate earlier this year. via Redfin
MARRIAGE
While it was no doubt a shrewd business move – after all, he netted a tidy $1 million profit – “Shark Tank” star Robert Herjavec’s sale of his 17th-floor West Hollywood condo for $4.1 million may have been prompted by love as well as money. Last spring, Herjavec successfully popped the question to his “Dancing with the Stars” partner Kym Johnson, who coached him through season 20 last year.
UPSIZING
“Thor” actor Chris Hemsworth hammered out the $7 million sale of his Malibu home after whisking his actress wife Elsa Pataky (“Fast & Furious 6” and “Furious 7”) and their three young children back to his homeland, Australia. Hemsworth purchased the two-story Malibu Victorian in 2013 from fellow Aussie actor Paul “Crocodile Dundee” Hogan.
After welcoming their second child in July, actors Emily Blunt and John Krasinski sold their Hollywood Hills home to Kardashian model Kendall Jenner for $6.5 million. The airy mansion is model ready, with a media room, swimming pool, gym and rooftop deck overlooking Sunset Strip.
Pop star Pharrell Williams was more than “happy” to sell his Miami oceanfront condo for $9.25 million. The multiple-Grammy-winning singer-songwriter and his wife Helen are expecting their second child next year.
Singer and producer Pharrell Williams sold off his condo in Miami. via Zillow
Speaking of needing baby room, Justin Timberlake and his actress wife Jessica Beal welcomed their first child last year. Good thing the onetime N’Sync boy band star unloaded his Orlando lakefront home earlier this year for $2.4 million.
DOWNSIZING
Emmy-winning 86-year-old comedian Bob Newhart, best known for playing stuttering, deadpan psychologist Dr. Bob Hartley on “The Bob Newhart Show,” sold his spacious Bel Air home for $14.5 million.
Multitalented singer/actress/entrepreneur Connie Stevens sold her 1930s Bel Air mansion for $17 million as part of a bankruptcy proceeding. The fifth residence shed by the 77-year-old Stevens since 2010 due to financial troubles sits across the street from the home of “Cheers” and “Frazier” star Kelsey Grammer.
Screen tough guy Chuck Norris unloaded the Dallas ranch home he featured in his “Walker, Texas Ranger” TV series for $1.2 million. The 76-year-old martial arts star tricked out the home with a Total Gym weight room, resort swimming pool and home theater.
SPORTS MOVES
It took boxing legend Mike Tyson just one day on market to sell his knockout home near Las Vegas for $1.5 million. But the former heavyweight champ didn’t go far; he purchased a home twice the size just down the block.
Top-ranked pro golfer Jordan Spieth returned to his Dallas roots by purchasing a three-story mansion from fellow PGA pro Hunter Mahan for $7.2 million. Among the amenities: an indoor basketball court, 12-car garage and a home gym with golf simulator.
NBA star LeBron James made $4.4 million selling his Coconut Grove, FL palace this year. via Redfin
NBA greats LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, teammates and NBA finalists with the Miami Heat, each sold homes in 2016. James made a wicked $4.4 million profit selling his Coconut Grove waterfront palace for $13.4 million after returning home to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Wade unloaded a rundown Chicago mansion for $300,000 after returning home to join the Chicago Bulls. . Until he reinvests in the Windy City, Wade is renting the Gulf Coast mansion featured in the 1980s sitcom, “Webster.”
POP STARS
Raise your class to Grammy-winning R&B queen Pink on the sale of her tropical Malibu funhouse for $12.5 million. The Balinese estate features an oversized swimming pool, spa and private path to the Pacific.
Pink sold her Malibu retreat this year for $12.5 million. via Pinterest
Crazy-coiffed Aussie singer Sia sold her equally eccentric vintage LA home for $4.75 million. Built in 1924, the home features 6 fireplaces, a library, a billiard room with bar and an in-ground spa.
“Uptown Funk” soul crooner Bruno Mars offloaded his Hollywood Hills home for $3.3 million. This Midcentury Modern crib features a steam shower, sauna, pool, and floor-to-ceiling retractable walls that showcase sweeping Hollywood views.
“Grease” star Olivia Newton-John won’t be spending anymore “Summer Nights” in her Jupiter Inlet Colony, Florida home, after selling it for $5 million.
Singer Nick Lachey and his ET correspondent wife Vanessa Minnillo sold their SoCal Encino family home for $4 million. This charmer features a spacious pool lanai, separate guest wing and a home theater.
Rainbow-haired singer/rapper Kesha sold her cool Nashville contemporary home for $1.3 million.
ACTORS
“Scandal” star Kerry Washington may miss the view of the famous Hollywood sign she enjoyed from the French country-style Hollywood home she sold for $2.7 million, some $830,000 more than she paid for it just last year.
“True Detective” and “Wedding Crashers” star Vince Vaughn uncovered a handsome $900,000 profit when he sold his roomy neoclassical LA pool home to the CEO of DreamWorks Studios for $4.8 million.
“Madea” actor/producer Tyler Perry sold his 17-acre French Provincial estate on the Chattahoochee River in Atlanta’s chic Buckhead neighborhood for $17.5 million, complete with lighted tennis court, infinity pool, gymnasium and even an underground ballroom.
Tyler Perry unloaded his Atlanta mansion for $17.5 million. via Redfin
Tony Shalhoub, aka TV’s OCD detective “Monk,” sold his 1920s-vintage LA home for $3.6 million. Shalhoub, married to actress Brooke Adams (“Days of Heaven”), currently stars in the CBS political spoof “BrainDead.”
Charlize Theron, who won the 2003 Best Actress Oscar for playing a serial killer in “Monster” and eternal glory playing Imperator Furiosa in “Mad Max: Fury Road” sold her Hollywood penthouse apartment for $1.75 million. So shiny, so chrome.
Charlize Theron said goodbye to her cozy condo in Hollywood for $1.75 million
“Mall Cop” Kevin James, who currently stars in the new TV sitcom “Kevin Can Wait,” turned a handsome $8 million profit selling his Delray Beach, Florida home for $26.4 million.
Actor-comedian Joel McHale, who recently swapped his longtime anchor post on E! TV’s “The Soup” for his new sitcom, “The Great Indoors,” unloaded his Hollywood Hills home for $2.55 million.
And it surely took more than two and a half men to move Charlie Sheen out of the LA home he sold for $5.4 million. It’s the second property the “Anger Management” star liquidated this year. Winning?
