Ellen DeGeneres Heads Back to Beverly Hills, Snags Robert Skinner-Designed Midcentury Modern

Back in April, Ellen DeGeneres officially cut her last remaining residential link to Los Angeles — selling her Tudor-style mansion in Beverly Hills to a San Francisco-based venture capitalist for a cool $45 million. The former “Ellen” talk show host, 63, and her longtime wife Portia de Rossi proceeded to go on a Montecito spending spree, repurchasing a $14.3 million ranch from Tinder founder Sean Rad, doling out $2.9 million for a Bali-esque bungalow just steps from Butterfly Beach and paying cash for a $49 million Montecito estate, the latter a village-like compound done up in a Cape Dutch architectural style.

But you can’t keep these ladies out of L.A. for long, or so it would seem. DeGeneres and de Rossi are back, and they’ve paid Hollywood talent agent Greg Cavic $8.5 million for a striking Robert Skinner-designed midcentury ranch home in the mountains above Beverly Hills, as was first reported by TMZ. Originally listed for $10 million, DeGeneres scored a big discount on the property, though the sale price is still far more than the $3.5 million Cavic and wife Jessica paid for place in 2011. But the house has since undergone a meticulous restoration spearheaded by architect John Bertram and interior designer Sarah Shetter, replete with custom Douglas fir cabinetry, terrazzo floors, Calacatta gold marble countertops, high-end LSI lighting, redwood tongue-and-groove interior and exterior siding, and a chef’s kitchen with top-of-the-line appliances.

Tucked away on a nearly half-acre parcel near Coldwater Canyon, in the gated enclave of Hidden Valley Estates — where other celebrity residents include Adele, Nicole Kidman, Cameron Diaz and Penelope Cruz — the glass- and wood-clad structure greets with a skylit courtyard entry. Once inside, 4,600 square feet of living space is marked by casual and formal living areas; highlights include a master retreat boasting an office, a separate children’s wing and rooms punctuated by sliding walls of glass for seamless indoor-outdoor living.

A lengthy glass-encased hallway overlooks the outdoors, where the lush grounds are dotted by mature trees that shade gardens designed by Judy Kameon of Elysian Landscapes. There’s also a pool, barbecue and wet bar.

As it turns out, this is not DeGeneres’ first home in the Hidden Valley guard-gated community. Way back in 2001, she bought the house immediately next door to the Robert Skinner-designed place she just acquired, though she only held on to the first property for a scant two years. That house was later owned by Jessica Simpson, who sold it in 2013 to Sydney Holland, the former girlfriend of Sumner Redstone. Holland flipped the home a year later to its current owner — Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Lawrence.

The listing was held by Tori Barnao, Gersh Gershunoff and Aaron Kirman of Compass; DeGeneres and de Rossi were repped by Kurt Rappaport of Westside Estate Agency.