Brad Pitt’s $33 Million Hollywood Hills Compound Sold to Getty Oil Heiress

When Brad Pitt’s Los Angeles estate of nearly 30 years sold in a blockbuster deal last week, jaws dropped. The reported $39 million sale price was unprecedented for the neighborhood, a quietly upscale community in the eastern Hollywood Hills near Los Feliz.

Property records have now updated and reveal the compound actually sold for exactly $33 million — significantly lower than the amount initially reported, but still a record-breaking sum for the area. And it turns out the wildly wealthy buyer was Aileen Getty, a well-known collector of trophy real estate and a current Los Feliz resident. Born in L.A. but raised in Italy, the 65-year-old philanthropist and reformed drug addict is a granddaughter of industrialist J. Paul Getty, who was at one time the world’s richest man.

The huge deal closed just four days before L.A.’s controversial new mansion tax went into effect, a close shave that narrowly saved Pitt more than $1.8 million in additional taxes.

A village-like confection, the former Pitt estate comprises five adjacent parcels of land with five separate houses, all of them spread across 2-acres of heavily wooded land. The main residence, a large Craftsman-style structure originally built in 1915, has been owned by Pitt since way back in 1994, and was previously occupied by Angelina Jolie. The actor paid actress Cassandra Peterson (“Elvira, Mistress of the Dark”) just $1.7 million for the 6,700-square-foot house; according to Peterson, the property is very haunted.

Pitt originally put his compound up for sale as a private pocket listing back in January, asking $40 million. But because it never actually hit the market, photos and details are scant, though tax records and aerial views reveal there are two swimming pools, a skate park, lush gardens and numerous mature trees on the lots. Some of the various houses were reportedly used as staff and security team residences, others as offices or studios for the homeowner.

With his longtime main residence now sold, Pitt is permanently relocating to the coastal town of Carmel-by-the-Sea, Calif., about five hours by car north of Hollywood, where he recently paid $40 million for the landmark D.L. James house. But the Academy Award winner is also buying a part-time L.A. residence, and he still owns a small oceanfront hideaway near Santa Barbara and a 50% stake in the Chateau Miraval estate, in the south of France.

As for Getty, she’s laid claim to numerous interesting homes over the years. But one of the highlights is a Mulholland Drive equestrian compound she sold a decade ago to Katy Perry, which is now owned by Michael Chow of the famed Mr. Chow restaurant chain. She also once owned a blacked-out Malibu farmhouse, a huge brick New York City townhouse, and a spectacular midcentury modern house in Los Feliz.