The most over-the-top celebrity homes

If you were anything like this writer when you were in your early 20s, you spent an inordinately large amount of time watching Vh1’s Fab Life and MTV’s Cribs while wondering if you, too, might one day own an apartment with a climate controlled wardrobe the size of a small primary school.

Yes, celebrities aren’t known for the subtlety of their real estate choices; from multiple pools to private cinemas and everything in between, if you can dream it, they can build it. Here are seven notable moments in celebrity real estate that make Xanadu look like a minimalist one-bedroom apartment.

Elvis Presley

Compared to some of the celebrity manses that came after, Graceland is positively restrained. Elvis went all in on a “guitar and musical note” theme at his legendary Memphis home, but for the most part, Graceland serves as an eternal time capsule of the excesses of mid-1970s design: just check out the green-shag-carpeted “Jungle Room”.

Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith

The Smith family mansion in Calabasas has long been rumoured to be so huge it required its own ZIP code; the jury’s still out on whether that’s mere Big Willy Style hyperbole, but the 150-acre estate is crowned by an adobe-style house (a mere 25,000-square foot) with such features as “a serpent-themed fireplace screen of copper mesh, hand-hammered bronze, and carnelian cabochons.”

Image via Architectural Digest

Leonardo DiCaprio

Don’t be fooled by the chic facade of Leo’s latest New York pad, it’s what’s inside that really counts: according to reports, $10 million gets you “vitamin C-infused showers, purified air and water, a circulated aromatherapy air supply, posture-supportive heat reflexology flooring and “dawn simulation” provided by a circadian lighting design.”

Image via Glamour magazine

Gisele Bundchen and Tom Brady

If you’re the world’s highest paid model and America’s favourite quarterback, what other water feature would you install in your giant mansion (which includes five bedrooms, nine bathrooms, and seven fireplaces, among other things) than a moat? Rap mogul Dr Dre was so taken with the fit-out that he bought the joint from the couple for $40 million in 2014.

Image via LA Times

Vinnie Jones

Okay, okay, so a Christmas tree officially falls under “interior decoration”, but I love hard man Vinnie Jones’ dedication to finding a black Christmas tree. He claimed it was “to fit the colour scheme of my house”, but I suspect it’s because a black Christmas tree looks as tough as one of Jones’ uncompromising characters.

Image via Daily Mail

Jerry Seinfeld

It’s possible that Field Of Dreams’ iconic line “If you build it, he will come” was actually talking about Jerry Seinfeld: he was drawn to his $32 million Hamptons home because it came with enough space to build its own baseball field. For that, Seinfeld can thank the former owner: Billy Joel.

Image via People 

Jayne Mansfield

When it comes to committing to the bit, nothing can compare to Jayne Mansfield’s “Pink Palace”. From its pink shag-pile walls (and floor and ceiling) in the bathroom to the giant love-heart-shaped pool, the famous bombshell’s love nest – created by her husband, Mickey Hargitay – set the standard for outrageousness.

Images via Life Magazine