Saturday, November 5, 2011

Weekend Nugget Number One: Johnny Depp

Did Johnny Depp slap down some dough for a getaway on the Isle of Wight? Could be. Real estate rumors have begun to circulate in the local press that the Oscar-nominated ex-pat American actor may have set his real estate sights on the historic and scenic Isle of Wight, located just off the southern coast of England.

The wee island has been popular amongst literary types and royalty since at least the mid-1800s when Queen Victoria and Prince Albert acquired the vast Italian Renaissance-style pile known as Osborne House for uses as a summer retreat. Nowadays the island is best known among music-minded pop cultural types for hosting the annual Isle of Wight music festival.

Over the summer there were local reports the insanely famous and famously reclusive actor was spotted roaming around the southern seaside town of Ryde and chowing down in local eateries such as the Ugly Mug Cafe in Shanklin where the home made cakes and sandwiches are wheat-, gluten- and dairy-free.

Recent reports suggest the sightings (and photos) of Mister Depp over the summer may have been not of the actor himself but rather of someone who just happens to look a lot like the actor and doesn't mind posing for photos as the actor. However, the latest report–sent our way via an acquaintance we'll call Venetia Vaseseller–quotes Michelin-starred chef Robert Thompson who owns The Hambrough hotel in Ventor as saying, "People still think coming here is like stepping back in time. But it’s up-and-coming. Johnny Depp just bought a place in [the small village of] Bonchurch."

We have no inside intel on the matter. We're just passing along a little celebrity real estate gossip and rumor.

What we do know is that Mister Depp and his French actress-wife Vanessa Paradis maintain a number of swank residences around the world including a house in the affluent Paris suburb of Meudon, a remotely situated villa in Plan-de-la-Tour about 10 or 12 miles from St. Tropez in the South of France, and a 45-acre private island in the Bahamas called Little Hall's Pond Cay. In Los Angeles, CA Mister Depp owns a gated, 2.54 acre estate with a hulking chateau-style mansion built in 1922 and perched on a hillside directly above the Sunset Strip. Property records we peeped indicate Mister Depp acquired his bamboo-ringed Tinseltown compound, former the home of from celebrity attorney Marvin Mitchelson, in October 1995 for $1,890,000.

In typical celebrity real estate baller style property records also reveal a corporate entity connected to Mister Depp's Sunset Strip estate also owns four smaller (but hardly insubstantial) residences on the same short, windy cul-de-sac purchased between September 2005 and October 2008. A quick consult with our bejeweled abacus shows Mister Depp shelled out a total of $10,070,000 for the four properties. Presumably Mister Depp uses the quartet of residences as office space and/or to house family, friends,  and/or staff.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

rubbish. blatantly not true.
do you have nothing to write about??

angie said...

To our recently acquired site critic, since Mama doesn't do anything to your satisfaction, why is it that you don't find something better to do then? Those who can do; those who can't criticize.

Mama, interesting and very informative article as always. Thanks again for sharing :)

Anonymous said...

"rubbish. blatantly not true."

You're so sure because ... ?

This is a real estate gossip website, the whole point is discussing celebrity real estate & who's buying & selling or who may be buying & selling. Clearly the concept is lost on you.

Anonymous said...

Darlings Mamma... Love the news reports that Kate and Wills are moving into Apt 1A in Kensington (20 Room Lair) by 2013 after remodel Oh la la would just salivate for floor-plans

Anonymous said...

VICARIOUSLY VIOLATING THE VULGAR
VOMIT, VICTORY IS VOLUMINOUS OVER THE VILE VICIOUS VERMIN.

HAPPY GUY FAWKES DAY...V FOR VENDETTA

Anonymous said...

There once was a blog that was blingy
the idiots that read it were clingy
they said "leave us alone as we pathetically drone
and orgasmically moan
over the evil and stupid we think swingy"

Anonymous said...

hello Joony deep. i love you jonny deep you r hansum jonny deep. and I sigh over your tattoos and your pirate body is so yoo-hoo-hoo and a bottle of rum. you are a metaphysical manifestation of god, jonny deep. Buddha, jesus, vanna white. sarh palin and u. oh jonny!! I want to father mutated babies with you all looking like jonny deep and edward scissorhands and benny and joon and willy wonka...what range of character acting they will have, the babies!
I will write u, jonny depp I sing in silken slumber for who knows what happens when we shuffle off this mortal coil and the natural shocks that flesh is heir too.
do you have cable? Tivo? Cinemax?
Showtime, you r rich, jonny deep and I throw myself across the grave you dont have yet. Do you like
small Norwegian pastries? Yum! Jonny deep, do you think its the end of time, or are we merely members of our own mind's health club, and we dinn't buy enough coupons for Pilates and God is mad at us? because we thought that that if we did enough pilates in our soul that we would be dancing with the Stars On God's American Idol Show and God is Simon Cowell
and he voted us off cuz we suck and have no talent AND HE IS MAD BECAUSE WE HAVE FALLEN FROM Grace
and our souls are on E-Bay and there is no redemptions.
Jonny deep, I am hoping for something, I don't know what.

Thank you Mama, a DJ saved my life tonight.

Anonymous said...

wow such venom.. back to the blog.

the la house was the munchkin house in the wizard of Oz...

and guess why its big O and lil z ?? cuz Oz. stood for gold as in ounce of gold... and lets not forget the golden rule. "those with the gold make the rule...


sup bitches ?

Anonymous said...

Mama, just a lil note. Prince Albert designed and built Osbourne House for Queen Victoria and their children, which is a lot more effort and endevour than merely acquiring it. He was an enthusiatic amateur architect, and not bad at that.

lil' gay boy said...

Alright, who left the gate open again?

;-)

On the not completely nor-unrelated six degrees of separation front, one can peruse the history of an old Long Island estate, Meudon, named after the original in France.

Built a little less than 100 years ago, it required the purchase & demolition of the entire (at that time) village of Lattingtown, 60+ structures, to make way for it (and an adjoining estate, Ormston).

Proof positive that the current crop of money-cannot-buy-you-class gazillionaires still have much to learn about wretched excess.

Suzie Sticky Knickers said...

oh that post is fun but i have to say i really don't think those rumours are true at all
the only source is a local rag that normally only deals with old peoples handbags beings stolen and baby competitions + no-one has seen him there only a lookalike .... so is there any real evidence at all? um...
c'mon back to work everybody