Eddie Murphy. Picture: Netflix
From living in public housing to mega-mansions, Eddie Murphy has built a high-end real estate portfolio fit for the king of Zamunda.
With a net worth of about $US200 million ($A303 million), the comedy icon now lives in a life of luxury.
Today, the 64-year-old star lives with his family in a custom-built $US20 million ($A30 million) Beverly Hills estate — not to mention his rumoured $US15 million ($A22 million) island in the Bahamas.
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Eddie Murphy has built a high-end real estate portfolio. Picture: Netflix
Murphy isn’t seen around Hollywood a lot these days, having previously stated he prefers to pick and choose any scripts sent his way rather than jumping on every role he is offered.
A series of run-ins with Hollywood powerbrokers could also be hind his absence – he walked out of the Academy Awards in 2007 after being overlooked for best supporting actor and he bailed on hosting duties for the 2012 event after friend and event producer Brett Ratner was sacked from the show.
Despite those speed bumps in an otherwise glittering career, Murphy is sitting pretty thanks to his real estate portfolio. Here’s a look at where the Saturday Night Live alum lives now and where he previously called home.
Murphy’s $53 million in real estate
The Coming to America star lives in a $US20 million ($A30 million) North Beverly Park home that was built in 2003, the New York Post reports.
He purchased the lot in 2001 for $US10 million ($A15 million) and built the 10-bedroom, 17-bathroom mansion, which has become his primary residence, with an extensive library.
In addition to the house, the estate has a tennis court with a trellis, a huge swimming pool, a hot tub, a four-car garage, a sunken mason barbecue pit, a courtyard and an underground vault, according to the original listing and Los Angeles property records.
Murphy is said to have spent $US15 million ($A22 million) in 2007 on a Bahamas island called Rooster Cay, Page Six previously reported, which some publications say is more commonly known as a resort called Long Cay.
The island is 15 acres and sits near Nassau, according to Forbes.
The Coming to America star lives in a $US20 million North Beverly Park home that was built in 2003. Picture: Supplied
Public housing and foster care – 1961-1970
The funnyman was born on April 3, 1961, to telephone operator Lillian Laney and transit police officer Charles Edward Murphy.
The Beverly Hills Cop star spent his early years in public housing in Brownsville, Brooklyn.
“I’ve always been aware that I have a charmed life. I’m from the Tilden Projects of Brooklyn. This is all gravy,” he said.
The 16-storey apartment buildings he calls the “Tilden Projects” are part of Brownsville’s public housing units in a conglomeration of 27 X-shaped brick apartment buildings.
Murphy’s parents split up around 1964 or 1965, and his father was murdered in 1969, the comedian told local paper Newsday in 1981.
Soon after his father’s death, his mother became so ill that Murphy was shuffled around to different babysitters, including one Mrs Jenkins, a harsh woman who always served grits and gravy, he told Newsday.
Foster care websites and other non-profits claim Murphy spent that year in foster care, but Murphy is not known to have made such a statement publicly. His residence location during that year of his life is unknown.
The 16-storey apartment buildings Murphy calls the “Tilden Projects” in Brooklyn. Picture: Google Maps
A lime green living room in Roosevelt, Long Island – 1970-late ’70s
In 1970, Murphy’s mother married Vernon Lynch, a “wiry, no-nonsense” foreman at a Breyers ice cream plant who was also a boxing instructor, according to a 1982 feature by New York Magazine.
Murphy told Newsday he moved into his mother’s new “modern, two-storey ranch house” in Roosevelt, Long Island, with his stepfather, Lynch’s son Vernon Jr. and at times his late brother Charles, who died of leukaemia in 2017.
His exact address in Roosevelt is unknown, but it was within two blocks of the former Roosevelt Youth Center at 104 East Clinton Ave.
The living room had a lime green carpet and a coffee table covered with pictures of the Murphy and Lynch boys, according to the New York Magazine feature.
The dining room was white brick, and the basement was wood-panelled with a record player and a boxing area.
Outside, the shingled roof overlooked Eddie’s new cars, a “Z” and a Trans-Am, which were covered in canvas to avoid attracting attention, according to the feature, which called the house “immaculate”.
A home within two blocks of the Roosevelt Youth Center, near where Murphy’s house likely was. Picture: Realtor
The nicest apartment complex in Hempstead – Late ’70s-early ’80s
After his stand-up career took off, Murphy moved to the “nicest apartment complex in Hempstead” in the late ’70s on his $US4,500 ($A6,800)-a-week Saturday Night Live salary, he told Newsday.
He moved out in November 1982, according to New York Magazine.
The home he sang about: Bubble Hill – 1985-2013
Remember Murphy’s 1989 song about Bubble Hill? The song was based on his colonial home Bubble Hill, in Englewood, New Jersey, which he purchased in 1985 for $U3.5 million ($A5.3 million).
The house on a five-acre lot boasted a screening room, a bowling alley, an indoor pool, a gym and a recording studio, The Post previously reported.
“Bubble Hill is never quiet. I named it after the black expression ‘bubble’, which is slang for ‘party’. Translated: Party Hill,” he told Rolling Stone in 1989.
“It goes deeper than the party, though. I really feel at home in that house. My lifestyle is very conservative. There’s always a lot of swimming and ping-pong and listening to music and watching movies.”
His song said he’d live on Bubble Hill “until the end of time,” but he sold the home to Alicia Keys for about $US10 million ($A15 million) in 2013 after listing it for $US30 million ($A45 million) in 2004.
The Boomerang star also spent $US330,000 ($A500,000) on a New Jersey home in the Haworth-Alpine area of New Jersey, according to Realtor.
The purchase would have been sometime before 1985, when an Associated Press report said his home on a quarter-acre was “a multi-level wood-panelled structure tucked away at the end of a dead-end street” near his friend, comedian Joe Piscopo.
The song Bubble Hill was featured on Murphy’s second album So Happy. Picture: Supplied
Cher’s Moroccan abode – 1988-1995
A 27-year-old Eddie Murphy bought this Moroccan house from Cher for $US5.9 million ($A8.9 million) in 1988, the year the original Coming to America film was released.
The 11-bedroom, 17-bathroom mansion, which was built in 1980, has undergone significant renovations since either celebrity owned it.
A 27-year-old Eddie Murphy bought this Moroccan house from Cher for $US5.9 million in 1988. Picture: Realtor
The 11-bedroom, 17-bathroom mansion has undergone significant renovations since either celebrity owned it. Picture: Realtor
Murphy enjoyed a fish pond, a large swimming pool and a guesthouse. Picture: Realtor
But property records show that when Murphy owned it, he enjoyed a fish pond, a large swimming pool and a guesthouse.
During his stint as owner, Murphy re-roofed the Moroccan abode, property records show.
As it stands today, the stylish home has arched windows, ivy-covered terracotta walls, a tennis court and a pool, according to Realtor, plus five stables, two horse rings, Moroccan tiles, hand-carved wooden doors and coffered ceilings, according to a listing by Compass broker Aaron Kirman.
Murphy sold the home in 1995 for $US4 million ($A6 million). With renovations and additional land on the property, the house is now worth close to $US85 million ($A128 million), as stated in its listing price in 2017, according to the Robb Report.
The stylish home has arched windows, ivy-covered terracotta walls, a tennis court and a pool. Picture: Realtor
With renovations and additional land on the property, the house is now worth close to $85 million. Picture: Realtor
Clove Hill Farm – 1995-2011
The Nutty Professor star purchased a farm with an eight-stall horse barn in 1995 for $US2.5 million ($A3.7 million).
The Poughquag, New York, property has five bedrooms and five full bathrooms. The estate has a seven-acre pond, a swimming pool with a pool house, a tennis court, a movie theatre with an arcade and a log cabin guesthouse, according to the listing.
He finally sold the equestrian estate for $US3.8 million ($A5.7 million) in 2011 after first asking $US12.7 million ($A12.7 million) in 2005.
Murphy sold the equestrian estate for $US3.8 million in 2011 after first asking $US12.7 million in 2005. Picture: Realtor
The estate has a seven-acre pond, a swimming pool with a pool house, a tennis court, a movie theatre with an arcade and a log cabin guesthouse, according to the listing. Picture: Realtor
The Nutty Professor star purchased a farm with an eight-stall horse barn in 1995 for $US2.5 million. Picture: Realtor
The Poughquag, New York, property has with five bedrooms and 5.5 bathrooms. Picture: Realtor
Granite Bay home with ex-wife Nicole Mitchell – 1998-2007
Murphy and his then-wife Nicole Mitchell bought this 10-bed, seven-bathroom California palace for an unknown sum in 1998.
The multimillion-dollar house sold for $US6.1 million ($A9.2 million) in 2007 after the couple’s divorce in 2006, according to Realtor.
The sprawling white modern mansion is fronted by a gated, stone motor court encircling a tiered fountain.
Palm trees surround the infinity pool and hot tub, which peer over the Sierra Nevada mountains and the Sacramento skyline.
The exterior of the home has Roman columns, wide glass windows and curved surfaces.
Murphy and his then-wife Nicole Mitchell bought this Granite Bay palace for an unknown sum in 1998. Picture: Realtor
Inside, the Shrek star’s two-storey foyer has a symmetrical Cinderella staircase winding up both sides of the entry and drawing the eye up to a concave circular alcove.
The home is covered in marble, vaulted ceilings, curved lines, wild light fixtures and winding staircases, according to photos from the auction website.
The estate also has a full-size guest mansion, a nine-car garage, a purple velvet movie theatre, gym, tennis court and basketball court, according to Realtor.
That’s what Murphy calls “gravy”.
Parts of this story first appeared in the New York Post and was republished with permission.
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