Inside Rebel Wilson’s global property portfolio
Rebel Wilson is proud to call herself a “cashed up bogan”, but many Australians might be surprised to know just how financially savvy the home grown celebrity is.
Rebel Wilson is proud to call herself a “cashed up bogan” even in a court of law, but many Australians might be surprised to know just how financially savvy the home grown celebrity is.
A quick look at her international property portfolio shows that the girl formerly known as Melanie Bownds, who claims to have had a humble upbringing in suburban Sydney, is actually rolling in it.
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The constantly in-work actor was embroiled in a defamation lawsuit against Bauer Media in 2017 after several of its magazines reported she had lied about her age, real name and upbringing.
At the time Ms Wilson won a record $4.5 million after friends and family gave evidence - including her own mother who admitted “I accept I am a bogan”.
However, in mid 2018 an appeal saw that sum reduced to just $600,000 - all of which was to be given to charity.
Ms Wilson, who has four films and a television series out this year, has a reported net worth of $22.6 million, and has so far dropped more than $17 million on bricks and mortar across the globe.
The Pitch Perfect star has accumulated homes from the Harbour City to Tinseltown and the Big Apple.
She’s a landlord in Gladesville
Although she is headlining in Hollywood, Ms Wilson is not immune to Sydney’s softening market. She recently had to drop the asking rent of her Gladesville investment property, twice.
The two-bedroom garden apartment was listed for $660 a week late last year, was dropped to $625 a week by January and then down to $595 a week by February.
According to CoreLogic data the property is no longer for rent, but it is unclear whether it eventually found a tenant or was pulled from the market.
Ms Wilson bought the Jordan St apartment in 2015 off the plan for $740,000, but since then rents have travelled south, with the median two-bedroom asking rent for the waterside suburb sitting at $480 a week.
Investment home in Balmain
During a trip Down Under in late 2018, the Bridesmaids co-star settled on another investment property, this time an apartment in Balmain.
In the inner west to oversee renovations to her harbour front home in Birchgrove, Ms Wilson took the keys to a two-bedroom pad on the site of a 19th Century Lever Brothers factory.
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The former site of Sunlight soap production, this apartment was reportedly also bought off the plan around the same time as the Gladesville investment in 2015.
She paid $1.88 million for the 150sq m two-storey digs designed Custance Architects.
Is home alone in Birchgrove
Back in 2014, just two years after the first Pitch Perfect hit the big screen, Ms Wilson bought her first Sydney home - an absolute waterfront in Birchgrove.
The Aussie acting export paid $3.76 million for the freestanding Victorian villa on prestigious Louisa Rd through local agents Cobden & Hayson. She has since spent a rumoured $1 million on renovating the already impressive pad.
Sitting on the west-facing side of the pricey peninsula behind an ornate historic facade, the three-bedroom three-level house even has a private deepwater berth and a jetty.
Before Ms Wilson acquired the home, another well-known Australian creative owned the property. Novelist and two-time Booker Prize winner Peter Carey sold it in 1992 for $810,000 following his move to New York.
Taking a bite out of the Big Apple
In a purchase that will have her rubbing shoulders with other high-profile stars, Ms Wilson bought a New York apartment in mid 2017 for $2.953 million ($AUD4.17 million).
The brand new lower-floor unit was listed as high as $4.5 million ($AUD6.35 million), but was later dropped to $3.995 million ($AUD5.64 million) before Ms Wilson snapped it up for considerably less.
After buying her two-bedroom home in Tribeca, she can now count Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel (who reportedly paid more than $20 million [$AUD28.24 million] to live there) neighbours, as well as couple Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, and Jennifer Lawrence.
Pitched to prospective buyers as “paparazzi proof”, celebrities love the new development because of its 24-hour doormen and concierge services, state-of-the-art security and subterranean motor court that can’t be seen from the street.
The complex also has a climate-controlled wine cellar, children’s playroom, a 464sq ft landscaped roof terrace, 21m indoor swimming pool and Turkish Hamman.
Found a home in Hollywood
Once Wilson became fully ingrained in Tinseltown it only made sense that the Aussie put her roots down in Hollywood.
She spent $2.95 million ($AUD4.17 million) in 2016 for a 409sq m five-bedroom house in a bungalow-lined street in West Hollywood.
The classic Californian cottage has wide plank wood floors, a gas fireplace, open plan living spaces, a spacious kitchen with a double wide island plus a walk-in pantry.
There is also an office, five bathrooms, a bar, veranda and out the back a spa and outdoor fireplace.
After moving to Los Angeles in 2011, Ms Wilson lived with her Bridesmaids co-star Matt Lucas, but just three years later had bought her first US crash pad - a $2.2 million ($AUD3.11 million) four-bedroom split-level ranch style residence in the Hollywood Hills which she is believed to still own.
Originally published as Inside Rebel Wilson’s global property portfolio