The Childhood Homes These Celebs Grew Up In
If there was a celebrity home in our neighborhood, we would sure to take a drive-by now and then (and maybe sneak a few photos and take a little personal property tour, too). But do fans love celebrities enough to pay a premium for their childhood homes, which are much more in-reach for the average person versus the mansions and compounds that many of the stars live in now?
Goodmove took a look at several celebrity houses and analyzed how much a home's value has risen since the stars moved there, as well as if it increased exponentially or simply kept up with the cost of inflation. Judging by some of the figures — Paul McCartney's house went up almost 8,000%, Taylor Swift's went up nearly 150%, and Renee Zellweger's went up more than 1,000% — the answer seems to be yes. The biggest fans are more than happy to shell out the cash for the homes of their favorite stars!
Celebrity childhood homes range everywhere from two-room cabins to $15 million Upper East Side townhouses. Here are just a few places that the stars grew up in before they were eternalized in pop culture.
Beyoncé's Houston brick French traditional
Beyoncé Knowles may be a mega-star with a seemingly everlasting career and a $440 million fortune, but she's also a woman with a sweet smile and a relatable attitude. Perhaps that stems from her picture-perfect upbringing in her childhood Houston, Texas French Traditional home, where Queen Bey lived until she was 5 years old, according to House Beautiful. The brick home with a fairytale-esque façade has three bedrooms, two fireplaces, and an open floorplan, as well as a master bedroom with a star-worthy closet, a renovated kitchen, and a lofted floor plan accessible by a spiral staircase. It also features original hardwood floors, an 8,600-square-foot lot, and a large, lush backyard, said Paper City.
Although the Knowles family purchased the 3,000-square-foot home near the city's Museum District for $64,000 in 1982, 2414 Rosedale was up for sale for $500,000 when it hit the market in 2018. According to Paper City, Beyoncé has lived at a long list of homes since her time here, but this will always be the original home of the singer.
Gwyneth Paltrow's Upper East Side townhouse
Some stars hail from humble beginnings, but the same can't be said for actress and Goop founder Gwyneth Paltrow. When her family's seven-room, 7,205-square-foot Upper East Side townhouse off Central Park hit the market in late 2020, it was listed for a staggering $15.5 million, according to 6sqft. Gwyneth's parents, producer and director Bruce Paltrow and Emmy award-winning actress Blythe Danner, were residents of 9 East 92nd Street for about eight years while Gwyneth attended all-girls private school the Spence School after turning 11 years old. Paltrow left her parents to an empty nest when she moved to California to study at the University of California, Santa Barbara, although she dropped out when she decided to pursue an acting career full-time, said the Robb Report.
At 20 feet wide, Gwyneth's childhood home isn't an ordinary New York City townhouse, especially considering its low-profile neighbors which allow light to flow into the Renaissance Revival home. It was built more than a century ago and features a lush, brick-lined garden with a fountain and an orange tree outside. Inside, the home gets even more exquisite with colossal, light-filled windows, a foyer lined by parquet checkered floors, and six wood-burning fireplaces throughout the entire abode. In a nod to the historical background, the five-story townhouse also has a library lined with wood paneling, his-and-her dressing rooms, and a private terrace that overlooks the garden.
Madonna's remodeled Michigan colonial
Take a drive by the two-story, 2,700-square-foot colonial lined with green siding and a brick façade and it's hard to imagine it was ever lived in by the Queen of Pop and her five siblings. But the celeb home also looks quite different than it did after Madonna's parents moved out in 2001. The house was destroyed by arson in 2008, purchased by a new owner for only $91,000 in 2012, and then listed for $479,000 in 2017 after an extensive renovation, said the Detroit News.
The renovation resulted in a lovely property ideal for a family with its hardwood floors, kitchen with custom cabinets, a farmhouse porcelain sink, and a screened-in porch surrounded by a covered patio. Outside, the home overlooks the Brookwood Golf Course from its 1.5 acres of land, which is adorned with fruit trees, perennials, and bridges. It's a far cry from what the house, which is about 30 minutes outside of Detroit, looked like following the arson, when it underwent serious smoke and fire damage and had to be boarded up.
Jennifer Lopez's Bronx family home
Yup, Jennifer Lopez really is "Jenny From The Block." The woman who does it all, including act, sing, and dance, started at humble beginnings in a Bronx residence where she shared a room with her two sisters. But it was never a home without love and family-friendly details — it had a vegetable patch and a homemade swing in a tree that Lopez could often be found swinging on until she was 16 years old, said Worldation.
According to Realtor.com, the 1,500-square-foot home is for sale for the first time since Lopez propelled into stardom. It's located on a 5,000-square-foot lot and includes traditional features such as three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a finished basement, a garage, a finished attic that has been converted into an office, and a driveway. Outside, the property, which is sided with stone details and patterned columns, is lined with a white fence. But it likely doesn't look very much like it did when Lopez lived here more than 30 years ago. The Realtor.com listing says that the home has undergone extensive renovations and now has a new kitchen and bathrooms to suit modern standards.
Kanye West's Chicago muse
Since it came out in August of 2021, the album Donda by Kanye West has mesmerized fans. So has the home where Donda West, Kanye's mother, lived in Chicago for about eight years. To promote the album, Kanye deleted all of his Instagram posts and shared one new snap: a photo of the 1,600-square-foot South Shore propetry. 7815 S. South Shore Dr. was built in 1905 and includes three bedrooms and one bathroom on a 7,000-square-foot property. The backyard includes a shed and a stairway leading to the grass. When Donda, Kanye and Donda's then-boyfriend lived at the home, they completed repairs such as replacing windows, adding insulation, and adding a new set of stairs, according to the Chicago Tribune. At the time, the home also included a living room, dining room, basement, a larger bedroom off of the kitchen, as well as a smaller bedroom ideal for a child.
The house, which has blue siding and a wrought iron-lined front porch, was sold by Donda for $121,000 in 2003. That was only one year before Kanye released his debut album "The College Dropout." Although since then the home has fallen into disrepair, Kanye's company Donda Services LLC purchased the abode to save it from demolition, said the New York Post. The company is now working on renovations including a new roof and repaired electrical wiring, although no one can be sure what Kanye's future plans are for his beloved childhood home.
Miley Cyrus's Tuscan California mansion
Much has changed for Miley Cyrus since she transformed from Disney's "Hannah Montana" into the pop star that we all know today. When Miley was 14 years old and starred in the teen sitcom, she moved from Tennessee to Toluca Lake, a neighborhood of Los Angeles, California alongside her parents. There, country music singer Billy Ray Cyrus and his wife, Tish Cyrus, lived with their daughter in a six-bedroom Tuscan home that was new when the Cyrus family lived there, reported Love Property. According to Forbes, Miley lived here until she was 18 years old and later returned with then-fiancé Liam Hemsworth.
Unlike many of the typical modern homes that Los Angeles celebrities live in, the Cyrus family took a little bit of Tennessee with them to their home with the 8,700-square-foot property's warm details. Those include exposed beams, wood floors, a wood-clad kitchen with a center island, and several fireplaces. Plus, the house includes elements ideal for teens, like an outdoor skating ramp, outdoor pool, theatre room, and even a guitar display room. Outside, there is a lush green space, an outdoor fireplace and dining area, a Juliet balcony, climbing ivy, and other romantic details. The dwelling also features other similar touches like arched windows and a curved iron wrought staircase. Once "Hannah Montana" came to an end came to an end in 2011, though, the Cyrus family bid their Los Angeles pad goodbye and headed back to Tennessee.
Angelina Jolie's upscale New York cabin
Angelina Jolie's wood-and-stone-clad childhood home tucked within a forest about 25 minutes upstate of Manhattan doesn't seem to have a lot in common with the typical glam compounds of the rich and famous. But it still has a hearty price tag — it went up for sale in 2015 for a little more than $2 million, reported Today.
Jolie and her mother, Marcheline Bertrand, as well as her brother, actor James Haven, lived at what's known as the Whitney House in the 1980s after Bertrand and Jolie's father, Jon Voight, divorced. It was named the Whitney House since the home was originally built in the 1950s for the founder of the Whitney Museum of American Art, according to The Spaces. The four-bedroom mid-century modern home on two acres was renovated in 2014 to bring the 4,000-square-foot property back to its original splendor. However, it still maintains features that buyers today love, like an open floorplan, a 30-foot ceiling, exposed beams, a balcony with overreaching views of the property, an office space, and colossal glass doors to fill the entire space with sunlight. The cozy cabin features don't extend to the contemporary bathrooms, though, which offer white marble details in the master and spacious, walk-in showers.
Britney Spears' Louisiana ranch
Long before a conservatorship riddled with protests, a career bombarded by paparazzi, and a divorce followed with a media firestorm, Britney Spears was just a Southern girl living in a traditional ranch home in Louisiana. She grew up in a circa-1979 2,300-square-foot home, filled with three bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms, according to Dirt. Today, the house actually remains almost the same as it was when Britney lived here, filled with wood paneling, green striped wallpaper, and other features that were popular during the time period. The home has a wood-burning fireplace, an office, vaulted ceilings, and an eat-in kitchen with updated appliances and granite countertops. Unlike much of the rest of the home, it was renovated at some point.
Want to see the famous girly furniture in Britney's room captured in the Rolling Stone 1999 cover story? Not surprisingly, it's no longer inside the home located on a nearly two-acre lot. Instead, it's at the nearby Kentwood Historical and Cultural Museum. Outside, the home includes two storage buildings and a two-car garage. Plus, in a nod to Britney's father's former life, there's even a detached studio space now needing some TLC where he ran a local gym. In June of 2020 — on the same day that The New York Times released a documentary detailing the controversial conservatorship over Britney — Jamie Spears sold the entire home and property for $289,000, reported the New York Post.
Michael Jordan's North Carolina abode
A lot has changed for Michael Jordan since he played basketball in his driveway with his brother at their home at 4647 Gordon Rd., Wilmington, North Carolina. According to StarNews, he moved there from New York with his family when he was 5 years old and remained here through his time at Emsley A. Laney High School. Tried-and-true Jordan fans might even recognize the home from a press conference there, when it was announced that Jordan would sign with the University of North Carolina Tar Heels. But despite Jordan's comfort on a basketball court, he also loved the forests that surrounded his childhood home, reported ESPN.
The middle-class, split-level house holds a special place in Jordan's heart. A friend said he seemed sentimental as they gazed it at from afar when Jordan returned to the area in the 2000s to help with hurricane recovery efforts. Jordan holds a special place in the heart of Wilmington, too; a section of Interstate 40 at the Pender-New Hanover county line near Jordan's childhood home has been renamed Michael Jordan Highway.
Kurt Cobain's Washington home
For 14 years, Nirvana frontman and music legend Kurt Cobain was just a typical teenager playing guitar in his childhood bedroom in his Aberdeen, Washington home. Luckily for Cobain fans, the 1,500-square-foot home still appears much as it did when Cobain lived there through the late 1980s, and they can even go see it themselves in person, according to Insider. Visitors will be welcomed to the home for tours starting in mid-2022 after restorations are completed by the current owner, who said his goal is to make the home "a tribute project to Kurt's early life and career, with museum detail," he told Rolling Stone. The home is now marked by light yellow siding and a humble façade, brown carpeting, a subway-tiled ceiling, patterned wallpaper, and other typical 1970s décor.
When the four-bedroom home was listed for sale for $500,000 in 2013, some of Cobain's personal items and photos were still there, continued Insider. The price was later dropped to $329,000 in 2015 and this time, the listing said that band logos created by Cobain were still etched onto the walls. The home value only continued to plummet, though, eventually selling for $225,000 to the current owners from the Cobains. However, the Cobains have remained involved in the restoration of the soon-to-be public property. Now, it's even on the Washington Heritage Register of culturally important buildings.
Taylor Swift's suburban paradise
Taylor Swift might be a pop star these days, but we'll never forget her innocent country beginnings. Judging by her picture-perfect childhood home at 78 Grandview Blvd. in Reading, Pennsylvania, we don't think she will, either. The circa-1929 Colonial Revival featuring five bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms within more than 3,500 square feet is a budding country singer's dream with its noble pillars, brick walkway, wood-paneled floors, and welcoming chandelier in the entryway. This suburban paradise is where Swift lived until she was 14 years old, and also where she wrote some of her earliest songs such as "Teardrops On My Guitar" and "Love Story," according to House Beautiful. After that, Swift and her family left Reading for Nashville, where Swift's music career came to fruition; they sold the home in 2013 for about $800,000. Just two years later, Swift released her first album.
The Reading home includes a brick fireplace flanked by glass doors — the very fireplace where Swift supposedly practiced the guitar, according to Taste of Country — as well as a side porch topped with an outdoor patio, an office with its own fireplace, a chef's kitchen with a large granite center island, and breakfast bar, as well as bathrooms with marble details. Several of the bedrooms are slightly more whimsical, featuring colorful orange and blue walls.
Judy Garland's Grand Rapids home
Through eternal classics like "The Wizard of Oz" and "A Star is Born," the memory of Judy Garland will never fade. That's also true of her Grand Rapids, Minnesota home, which has been a public museum since 1975 where visitors are welcome. It was also one of the first celebrity museums, and one to be given a great seal of approval. It is authorized by the Judy Garland Heirs Trust, according to the museum's website.
Three decades before Garland came along, the modest white home was built by Andrew Shook, the captain of a steamboat, and his wife. Later, after a major remodeling, Garland's parents Frank and Ethel Gumm purchased it as their first home together. Three years later, Garland was born, and she spent seven years growing up here before they moved elsewhere in Grand Rapids.
Since then, the house has been restored to appear much as it did when Garland lived here in the 1920s. Restorations have included period furnishings, historic wallpaper, restored birch and maple hardwood floors, and exterior additions. Besides being able to tour the restored, historic home, visitors to the museum can also see the world's largest collection of Garland memorabilia here, as well as interactive exhibits and a peaceful memorial garden and gazebo onsite.
Dolly Parton's one-bedroom Tennessee cabin
Dolly Parton has a career that has just as much longevity as she does. She's been a staple of pop culture since 1967 and has since embarked on humanitarian work, music, acting, business, and more. But through it all, she's remained humble — perhaps because of her humble beginnings. Parton grew up in a two-room cabin with her eleven siblings and parents, reported Curbed. Although the original cabin is in Sevierville, which is in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, there is also a replica of the home in Dollywood, which is only about 15 minutes away and is open for visitors. Here, fans of Dolly Parton can see what the star's life was like before fame. The interior was even designed by her mother, according to Visit My Smokies, so fans can visit confident knowing they're seeing what Parton did back in those days.
In the cabin, floral wallpaper and newspapers fill the kitchen walls, and the table is even set for the large Parton family with plates as well as aluminum coffee cups. There are also original Parton items throughout the house, including photos of Dolly's parents. Other authentic Americana possessions bring the cabin to life, such as a butter churn, lace curtains, a Spam container, wooden toys, and a sewing machine. Parton's birthday (January 19, 1946) is even circled on a feed store calendar.