Mark Zuckerberg Tries to Joke About His Underground “Bunker,” and Other Celebrity Real Estate News

It’s a new year, and Vanderpump Rules stars Ariana Madix and Tom Sandoval are still cohabitating. Will the ex-lovers ever find peace…like, say, the peace Justin Theroux has secured now that his nemesis neighbor has decided to move out? We can only hope. At least Madix and Sandoval won’t have to spend time trapped together in Mark Zuckerberg’s brand-new apocalypse shelter—that’s only for his closest video-gaming buds. Phew. Let’s get into these stories, and the rest of our January celebrity real estate news.

• Ariana Madix has sued her ex-boyfriend and Vanderpump costar Tom Sandoval to force the sale of the $2 million Los Angeles home they purchased together in 2019, and have co-owned as enemies since "Scandoval" broke the internet (and their relationship) in March 2023. In an early January complaint filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court, Madix stated she wants the home sold and to split the money with Sandoval; she does not want "a division in kind," which would mean she’d either have to share ownership of the home with her ex, or find someone to buy her out—a person who actually wants to co-own the home with Sandoval. (This would also leave room for Sandoval to sell his half to a third party, which Madix wants to avoid.) We’re doing one of those prayer circles young people post online in the hope that this works out for her.

• Someone must have done a prayer circle for The Leftovers star Justin Theroux, too, because his longtime enemy has nearly been vanquished. In 2017, the actor sued a Greenwich Village neighbor named Norman Resnicow for $4.58 million, alleging a "years-long harassment campaign," which included killing Theroux’s ivy on their shared roof terrace and peeping on him and his then wife, Jennifer Aniston. Resnicow countersued Theroux, and, in August of last year, a judge found Resnicow partially liable. The building’s co-op board wants to evict Resnicow for alleged verbal abuse toward Theroux and other neighbors, but Resnicow claims improper protocol by the board—both parties are awaiting a judge’s decision. If the judge rules against Resnicow, the co-op board would be able to hire a lawyer to control the sale of Resnicow’s apartment. In the meantime, Resnicow is attempting to get ahead of the decision and sell the apartment himself. I’m sure Justin Theroux will be happy when he’s out, by whatever means.

• At least Theroux doesn’t live next to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who is reportedly building an apocalypse-proof 1,400-acre compound named "Koolau Ranch" in Kauai, Hawaii. According to a Wired investigation that paints a bleak picture of its construction, the partially completed compound features two mansions and a personal spa, will generate its own energy, grow its own food, and serve as its own episode of the Twilight Zone with the inclusion of a 5,000-square-foot underground bunker. Cool...? The Wired article cites reports of military-like surveillance on NDA-bound contractors, and shady business tactics to pressure Kauai locals with ancestral land rights to either sell or put their land up for auction. Over on Instagram, though, Zuck is all smiles. The mogul posted a video earlier this month seemingly meant to satirize Wired’s coverage, showing his wife, Priscilla Chan, opening the door to a personal movie theater; the video is emblazoned with the text, "When your wife catches you in the ‘bunker.’" Inside the theater, Zuckerberg and his friends are playing a video game. Ha-ha-ha-how scared should we be?

• Zuckerberg’s creepy bunker isn’t the only hulking building that, at least temporarily, is evading destruction. On January 18, the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission voted unanimously to declare Marilyn Monroe’s former home a historic cultural monument, saving it from the threat of demolition that’s been looming since late last year. The 1929 Spanish hacienda–style residence is the only home Monroe ever owned independently, and is where she was discovered after her fatal overdose in 1962. While the historical distinction doesn’t save the home from demolition permanently, it does give the commission the ability to delay any future planned demolition by 180 days, to attempt to find other opportunities for preservation.

• There’s also some good news about Joan Didion’s former Upper East Side apartment. No, it hasn’t been made a historic cultural monument, but after about a year on the market and multiple price cuts, the place has finally sold. Though it had a storied existence and cultural cache (much like the kitchen of Didion’s former Malibu home), the prewar apartment didn’t have much of a view and needed some work; factors that likely led to its languishing on the market. But a new broker, Jennifer Stillman, took over the listing in October and restaged it, telling Curbed that she also focused on setting the right price for the market and finding the right buyer: "It was really for someone who appreciated the bones and had a vision." In other words, the 11-room co-op needed someone who could tell themselves stories in order to buy it.

• Meanwhile, Alec Baldwin is attempting to tell his own story to motivate buyers. The actor has been trying to sell his 10,000-square-foot Hamptons estate since 2022, a year following his fatal shooting of the cinematographer on the film Rust. In early January, days before a grand jury in New Mexico revived the criminal case against him (after the original was dismissed), Baldwin relisted the property at $19 million, a huge discount from its original $29 million asking price. Seemingly hoping to inspire a sale of the Amagansett property, Baldwin also released a short video detailing his Hamptons property-owning history (in case you were curious) and his love of the massive estate, which features five bedrooms, a wine tasting room, a library, and a movie theater, among its other features—all of which Baldwin declines to show in the video. "You just can’t get this out here anymore," he says, "you can’t buy big pieces of land, especially in Amagansett." I, personally, have no idea if that’s true. I guess you’ll just have to go by how much you trust Alec Baldwin.

• In a far less depressing video, Queer Eye’s Tan France shared a look at the designing of his dream primary bedroom and en suite bathroom in a recent episode from his "Home at Last" series with Architectural Digest. France and his husband bought a plot of land in Salt Lake City in 2021 and have documented its construction and design for the five-part video series (watch this one to see the couple design their South Asian–inspired walk-in closet). Check it out, but beware—it might make you want to spend thousands of dollars on wallpaper and a soaking tub.

Top photos courtesy (clockwise from top left): Mario Tama/Getty Images; Amanda Edwards/Getty Images; Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images

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