MTV must be having a hard time these days finding celebrities willing to showcase their extravagant homes on "Cribs." With the exception of Mariah Carey, whose tour of her New York penthouse was the most watched episode of the history of the show, it seems like every other celebrity these days is looking to downsize. Given the state of the current global economy, it’s no surprise that almost every week a new member of the "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" crowd is trying to unload a mansion. First to go: Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch, complete with Ferris wheel, roller coaster, and zoo. It’s not clear if the King of Pop still owns the property after it was saved from foreclosure last spring, but just a few days ago Nicolas Cage sold his Bavarian castle. And last week's news that Candy Spelling put the mansion she shared with her late husband, famed TV producer Aaron Spelling, on the market for $150 million makes her the latest celebrity trying to find a buyer for their extravagant digs. The cozy childhood spread of "90210's" Tori Spelling boasts, among countless other amenities, a bowling alley, beauty salon, China room, rooftop rose garden, and our personal favorite, a room devoted entirely to gift-wrapping.
It's probably a good time to buy a mansion if you’re in the market and have a few hundred million to spare. So here's our list of some outrageous celebrity properties worth keeping an eye on.
[Photo gallery: See the most outrageous celebrity homes.]
George Clooney's Villa Oleandra
George Clooney bought his Italian home away from home in 2002 for a paltry $10 million. He claims he fell in love with it because of its ornate ceilings, once joking that in the days before television you just watched your ceiling. We think he made the purchase for the separate pizza kitchen (we would have). The 15-bedroom mansion is so enormous that the star doesn’t sleep in the master bedroom because it’s too big. He has also claimed his first apartment could fit in the bathroom. We doubt George will part with his 18th-century Lake Como bachelor pad anytime soon, but we hear David Beckham is currently subletting the villa while playing soccer in Italy for AC Milan.
Mariah Carey's Prospective Los Angeles Home
Until the Spelling listing, Mariah Carey’s dream home was America's most expensive on the market at $125 million. Recently, she made an offer on the mansion located in the exclusive Los Angeles neighborhood Holmby Hills, and we wait with bated breath to see if owner Suzanne Saperstein, ex-wife of billionaire David Saperstein, accepts. The French Chateau-style mini-palace is 45,000 square feet and features Italian marble walls, French limestone floors, gold-embossed leather wall coverings, a ballroom, and separate staff quarters for ten. With any luck Mariah and hubby Nick Cannon will close on the property soon so they have a place to put the reported $200,000 worth of furniture they bought for the pink nursery they’re planning for their yet-to-be-conceived baby girl. No word yet on which room will house Carey’s 1,000-plus pairs of shoes.
Hugh Hefner's Playboy Mansion
Have you always wanted to see the Playboy Mansion? Well here's the next best thing. Hef's second residence (currently home to estranged-wife Kimberley and their two sons), a mirror image located right next door, is available for a mere $27.9 million. Too steep a price to become "The Girl Next Door?" Sure, Kimberley's 7,300-square-foot place has a newly remodeled eat-in gourmet kitchen, a library, leaded-glass windows, and a hand-carved staircase. But how about a private zoo and aviary, a waterfall, a game room, and the famous grotto? Nope. You gotta go to the real Playboy mansion for those.
Will and Jada Pinkett Smith's Calabasas Castle
It took more than seven years and $20 million to complete Will and Jada's California home with its private lake, full basketball court, and a pair of par threes out back. Will once joked that it took so long to build that his children would be old enough to buy their own homes by the time they moved in. But not so — Will’s kids are settled in and even attend school nearby at the New Village Leadership Academy, which the couple launched last year.
Oprah Winfrey's "Promised Land"
We have a theory about the bad karma you can get from bashing Oprah. So we'll just say that Oprah calls her Montecito, California, home "Promised Land." You make your own judgments. Maybe we're just jealous? What would we call it if we bought a $52 million (now valued at around $90 million) Georgian-style mansion with 14 bathrooms and ten fireplaces, 45 acres of land with one of the most magnificent views on the Pacific Coast, a guesthouse, a gatehouse, a barn, an orchard, a couple of ponds, and a manmade lake? Guess we'd just call it a miracle.
John Travolta's Air Field
We don’t think John Travolta has any interest in selling his custom home in Ocala, Florida. If he did, he might be hard-pressed to find a buyer for a home with a 1.4-mile landing strip ending at the main entrance. A "carport" right out front houses his smaller plane for those quick jaunts. The mid-century dwelling (shaped like the top of an air control tower) feels a little more like an airport than a home, with a 15-by-17-foot dining-room mural of an airport scene from a 1937 "Fortune" magazine ad and 18-foot wall-to-wall living-room windows overlooking the tarmac and fleet of planes. We're not sure how many cars fit in the actual garage, but we're pretty sure John and Kelly don't use those very often.
Britney Spears' Mansion Rental
This past January, Britney left the Hollywood lifestyle behind and moved to the L.A. 'burbs with her sons. Her new Calabasas home, Chateau Suenos, features a glass mosaic pool, a state-of-the-art soundproof cinema, a climate-controlled Venetian plastered wine cellar, a custom bathroom suite with a dry sauna and steam shower, and a craft room (we all know how crafty Brit can be!). The best part? The elevator that takes her cars to underground storage. But Brit didn't shell out the $8.9 million asking price. Instead she’s renting until her yet-to-be-built home in the same neighborhood is ready.
Jerry Seinfeld's Hamptons Domain
Before Jerry's East Hampton home became Madonna and A-Rod's rendezvous retreat, it was a record-setting real estate listing. Back in 2000 Jerry dropped $32 million on the spread he bought from piano man Billy Joel, who’d purchased the home in the ’80s with then-wife Christie Brinkley. The property (including two pools and a barn) has topped all sorts of lists of celebrity homes, even beating out the likes of Donald Trump's Mar-A-Lago and Elton John's villa in Nice, France. After his purchase, Jerry spent another $1.4 million on a 22-car garage for his auto collection. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Julia Roberts' Green House
Julia and hubby Danny Moder have just completed a $20 million extreme green-home makeover to their Malibu complex. We're not sure if the solar panel-covered roofs generate enough energy to take it completely off the grid, but at just over 6,000 square feet, the six-bedroom, five-bath house is pretty modest for such a huge star. Still, the home, built with wood from sustainably managed forests and recycled tiles, is enough to make other eco-stars like Leo DiCaprio and Ed Begley, Jr., green with envy.
The Jonas Brothers' Hideaway
To escape their adoring fans, Kevin, Joe, and Nick spent $7 million on what amounts to a Hollywood tree house. It’s so secluded it's been called the "most private property in Los Angeles." Surrounded by woods, the house has glass walls overlooking gardens, a state-of-the-art projection room, a gym, a den with a bar (that's non-alcoholic beverages, boys), four bedrooms, and one master suite. Wait a second. ONE master suite? So who gets that, the oldest? The youngest, who writes the songs? Do they all share it? Or maybe they don't need privacy when they have promise rings.
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