Modernist Malibu Home Once Owned by Brad Pitt, Ellen DeGeneres Sells for $45 Million

Brad Pitt recently dropped $40 million on a decidedly idiosyncratic house in Carmel, Calif., but that place is not the design aficionado’s first foray into seaside real estate. During the 2000s, Pitt owned a midcentury Malibu house in the Encinal Bluffs neighborhood, where he and Angelina Jolie lived part-time. Strikingly angular and situated atop a perilously steep hill, the home juts out from the cliff’s edge in a manner somewhat reminiscent of that famous movie house from “North by Northwest.”

In late 2011, Pitt sold the modernist property to Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi, though the couple only held onto the house for about six months before flipping it to Victoria Jackson, a skincare entrepreneur and one of DeGeneres’ closest friends. Jackson, a veteran Los Angeles resident in her 60s, is also the longtime wife of infomercial pioneer Bill Guthy.

Malibu prices have soared over the past decade. While the Encinal Bluffs house was never listed on the open market, records show Jackson has just sold the property for $45 million, more than triple the $13 million she originally paid DeGeneres for the house in 2012. The new owners are fashion moguls Jens and Emma Grede, he the co-founder of Kim Kardashian’s shapewear line Skims, and she the CEO and co-founder of Khloe Kardashian’s Good American denim brand.

Few photos of the Gredes’ new estate exist, and little else is publicly known about the property, though it’s believed Jackson gave the estate some sort of remodel within the last two years. Back in the mid-aughts, Pitt gave the place a remodel of his own, reportedly outfitting the glassy structure with bamboo floors, an outdoor fireplace and a stainless steel kitchen with a walk-in refrigerator.

Other known amenities include a lap-lane swimming pool, a full-size tennis court, covered parking for three cars, grassy lawns and a private staircase that leads down to the sandy beach. The house offers four bedrooms and four bathrooms in about 4,000 square feet of living space. Mature trees provide a dense canopy over much of the estate, and a big driveway gate shields the house from sight of the highway out front.

In addition to their new Malibu digs, the Gredes still maintain a $24 million Los Angeles estate they bought two years ago from fellow fashion mogul Serge Azria. Situated in prime Bel Air, that house was originally built in 1930s by famed architect Paul R. Williams. As for Jackson and Guthy, they still maintain a fleet of other luxury homes, including lavish estates in Beverly Hills, Brentwood, Santa Barbara County and elsewhere in Malibu.