Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom’s Mansion Lawsuit Has a Verdict, and Other Celebrity Real Estate News

Just before the Americans among us depart for our yearly, morally dubious celebration of colonialism and, I suppose, gratitude, we gather together today to celebrate that which we are grateful for most: celebrity real estate news. We have a beautiful cornucopia for you today, featuring a new tour of Barbra Streisand’s at-home collector’s mall, a peek inside Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck’s $60 million love nest, a tentative ruling in Katy Perry’s most recent real estate–related lawsuit, and lots more. Let’s give thanks, and get into it.

• Legendary singer and notable "Funny Girl" Barbra Streisand is making the rounds to promote her recently released memoir My Name Is Barbra, and you know what that means: new tours of the personal antique mall she has in the basement of her Malibu, California, home. (Yes, the very same Malibu compound that led to the coinage of the term the "Streisand effect.") Streisand showed both Gayle King and Stephen Colbert around her private replica mall, which includes a doll shop, featuring a variety of antique figurines that Streisand explains help make up for the fact that she didn’t have a doll growing up; a gift shop, filled with Christmas ornaments and assorted glassware; a vintage clothing shop, with both vintage items and clothes from her own past (like the cloak she wore to meet Queen Elizabeth in 1975); and a candy shop. Each has its own retro window display, and in this writer’s opinion, would be very scary to happen upon without context. But they make Barbra happy. And when it comes to Barbra Streisand’s spooky basement antique mall, that’s all that matters.

• Speaking of personal spaces we’re getting a glimpse into whether we like it or not, Jeff Bezos posted a home video on Instagram of himself giving a tour of Amazon’s first office in the garage of his 1994 Seattle home. In the video, he’s a scrawny nerd and the office is tiny and has no vibe beyond that of mess and burgeoning world domination. Take note of the gorgeous orange extension cord taped along the wall to bring extra power into the garage, the somewhat random pieces of wallpaper scattered throughout, and the multiple tissue boxes placed atop the clunky computer hardware and papers covering nearly every inch of Bezos’s desk. Take a peek, and maybe get some…inspiration? At least get some peace knowing that you are not currently in that exact room.

• Pivoting to the glitzier end of Instagram home tours, Jennifer Lopez recently gave followers a much sought-after peek into the $60 million mansion she bought with Ben Affleck in May, after an arduous two-year-long search. And we do mean peek. The quick glance into their Beverly Hills estate was given while Lopez showed off her outfit for the 2023 LACMA Art+Film Gala (she looked good), and basically, well—she let us see a wall. It’s a nice wall, though; kind of marble meets a satellite image of street lights at night, plus some embedded floor lights. I’d say we’re now familiar with about .3 percent of the interior of her 38,000-square-foot megamansion. And we’re grateful for that!

• Also grateful, I’m sure, is Katy Perry, as the judge in her legal battle against 83-year-old Army veteran Carl Westcott (and father-in-law of former Real Housewives of Dallas star Kameron Westcott) has made a tentative ruling in her favor. To refresh your memory, Perry and her fiancé Orlando Bloom purchased a $15 million Montecito, California, mansion from Westcott in 2020. Westcott then tried to renege on the deal, citing mental incapacity. But on November 8, a judge ruled that Westcott was of sound mind when the deal was made. "Westcott presented no persuasive evidence that he lacked capacity to enter into a real estate contract," read the court’s ruling, according to People, which will become permanent in 10 days. Perry isn’t completely out of the woods yet, though; she’ll have to testify in proceedings for Westcott’s countersuit in the coming months.

• Let’s hope the sale of the late Barbara Walters’s former New York City home goes a bit more smoothly. Walters’s family put the five-bedroom, six-bathroom Manhattan condo up for sale in 2022 for $19.75 million, but they’ve since dropped the price to $17.7 million. TMZ reports the home, with its Central Park views, high ceilings, and wood-burning fireplace, is currently under contract at its reduced price. The buyer won’t be made public until the sale closes, so they’re a mystery for now, but I’m already jealous of whoever they are. Sadly for them, the home won’t come furnished; most of the good stuff sold in Walters’s estate sale, which closed earlier this month.

• Also on the hunt for furniture is Jeremy Allen White, who spent part of his recent British GQ profile perusing the inventory at celeb-favorite Los Angeles furniture shop Den. The Bear actor is in the process of renovating his 1920s L.A. cottage, and on this outing, he’s looking for a "moody lamp" for his guest bathroom. Come for the descriptions of the furniture (like a Mah Jong sofa purchased by an unnamed "cool lady," and an $80,000 light switch–laden headboard), stay to hear White speak sorrowfully, and in the hottest way possible, about swapping out his two daughters’ cribs for bunk beds.

• Speaking of redecorating, do you think legendary musical theater powerhouse Patti LuPone had to swap anything out to prepare for her houseguest Aubrey Plaza? In a recent interview with Vulture, the White Lotus actress revealed that LuPone, who recently costarred with Plaza in the Marvel miniseries Agatha: Darkhold Diaries, "insisted" that she stay with her while Plaza prepares for her role in the Off-Broadway revival of Danny and the Deep Blue Sea. The two are cohabitating in LuPone’s Upper West Side home, where LuPone is, also notably, reportedly doing Plaza’s laundry.

Top photos courtesy (clockwise from top left): Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images; Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images; Andreas Rentz/Getty Images

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