We know this story has already been bludgeoned to death, brought back to life and then murdered again, but Yolanda can’t resist putting our own little spin on it. It’s just too damn good!
As y’all have certainly heard, showbiz supernova Kim Kardashian and her hot-headed hubby Kanye West have sold their freshly-renovated house in the affluent (and guard-gated) Bel Air Crest neighborhood for a truly shocking $17,800,000. And the new owner paid cash, y’all.
Good for Kimye! Or good for Kim, at least. Records show that the couple picked up the property in January 2013 — long before they got hitched — and Ms. Kardashian’s trust is the only entity listed on the deed. So it appears Kim K was the sole beneficial owner of the property, technically speaking.
For those number crunchers keeping track, the $17.8 million sale price — though lower than the $21 million off-market ask — is easily the most ever paid in the Bel Air Crest community, which (despite the name) is much closer to the San Fernando Valley community of Sherman Oaks than it is to prime lower Bel Air.
The buyer was identified by the Wall Street Journal as Marina Acton, a philanthropist and Ukrainian citizen in her early 30s. Our Mrs. Acton — formerly known by the names Marina Green and/or Maryna Gryn — was formerly the secretary to Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Svyatoslav Piskun. And now, with her newfound billions, she apparently wants to pursue a singing career in Hollywood.
And really, what better way to kickstart a career than by buying the home of one of the world’s most famous couples and generating an enormous load of free publicity?
For her part, Mrs. Acton publicly declared her love for the extensive press her purchase received. She even shared our own Mama’s Variety article on her personal Facebook page and stated “I like the gossips” and “I’m real and you will see me soon.” She also revealed (and Kim K confirmed on her website) that Ms. Kardashian personally toured her through the home before she purchased the property.
So where does all Mrs. Acton’s money come from? It probably helps that the former Miss Green/Gryn was married this year to Brian Acton, a Silicon Valley-based tech entrepreneur who happens to have a net worth of a paltry $6.7 billion. Our Mr. Acton co-founded the WhatsApp instant messaging service, which was sold to Facebook in 2014 for $22 billion in stock and cash. That lottery win is enough to make him the 269th richest person on the globe, according to Forbes. Cha-ching!
It should be noted, however, that a careful examination of records indicates that this home was purchased by an LLC whose sole managing member is Mrs. Acton, indicating that the property is solely and separately owned by her. You go, gurl! Spend that cash.
Despite the huge sale price, Yolanda is not sure how much Ms. Kardashian actually profited on the sale of this home. That’s because she bought the 9,000-square-foot house for $9,000,000 nearly five years ago and then spent 2-3 years and an unknown amount of money (probably several million bucks) to totally transform the Mediterranean mess into a starkly contemporary showpiece.
The house sports a front-facing two-car garage, a large motorcourt that can easily accommodate another dozen vehicles, a grassy backyard, and a negative-edge swimming pool on less than an acre of land.
Things adhere to the austere indoors and include a professional-grade kitchen that looks more like an doctor’s operating room than a homey place to grab some grub. White walls, a sweeping staircase, and hundreds of fluorescent ceiling lights span the rest of the home.
The property sits on a tiny cul-de-sac and right next door to currently unemployed comedian Kathy Griffin and two doors away from KB Home CEO Jeffrey T. Mezger, who is definitely not laughing at Ms. Griffin’s jokes. Perhaps Mrs. Acton can use her music to bring some peace to her new ‘hood?
This is not Mrs. Acton’s only multi-million dollar mansion, however. Oh no.
Less than 6 months ago — in July 2017 — Mrs. Acton paid $8,400,000 in cash for another sleekly contemporary home in the proverbial heart of Palo Alto.
The mini-compound was built in 2006 and sold by its original owner to Mrs. Acton. We’re sure she will enjoy the 5-bedroom, 4.5-bathroom main house and the separate 1-bed, 2-bath guesthouse, which could be converted into a recording studio. There are walls of glass, a spiral staircase, a “chef’s dream kitchen” that looks not unlike the kitchen in Kimye’s old pad, a home theater, and a somewhat cramped-looking gym. All this in a total of 4,469-square-feet spread out between the two structures on a .28-acre lot. And while $8.4 million may seem like a steep price for a quarter-acre of land, it’s not really that unheard-of up in Palo Alto, kiddies. This is prime Silicon Valley.
Some of Mrs. Acton’s new Bay Area neighbors include real estate baller Brendan Iribe, former Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer, and billionaire Marc Andreessen.
Anywho. We digress. Yolanda loves this story because it involves a gal who received mountains of fame and fortune because of an explicit homemade video selling her house to a gal who married a billionaire dude significantly older than herself and is not pursuing her pop star dream. Oh, you young’uns. Isn’t it just so delicious?
And really, is there anything more perfectly LA than that?
Listing agents: Matt & Josh Altman, Douglas Elliman
Marina Acton’s agents: Matt & Josh Altman, Douglas Elliman; Sandy Papale & Joel Goodrich, Coldwell Banker