Abel Tesfaye, more popularly known as The Weeknd, is a master of artistic reinventions. The Grammy Award-winner, whose signature use of the falsetto register and unconventional music has won over fans all around the world, has also been branching out as of late.
In 2023, he made his TV and acting debut, starring in the drama series The Idol — which he co-produced alongside Euphoria showrunner Sam Levinson.
And while the provocative HBO series was canceled after only one season, it gave us a new thing to obsess over: The Weeknd’s house in Bel Air, which was prominently featured in the short-lived TV show as Jocelyn’s (Lily-Rose Depp) mansion.
But even without its screen time in The Idol, the Starboy singer’s primary residence is one for the history books.
The R&B superstar dropped a cool $70 million for the luxurious Bel-Air mansion back in 2021, making it one of the most expensive deals closed in Los Angeles that year — and earning him a spot on our list of most expensive celebrity homes in recent history. And we’re here to take you on a quick tour of this spectacular celebrity abode.
The $70 million manse is a substantial upgrade from his previous 12,500-square-foot home in Hidden Hills, which he sold to Madonna for $19.3 million shortly before closing on his Bel Air property.
In fact, his former Hidden Hills home got a nod on his album “After Hours”. In his song “Snowchild”, Tesfaye sings about never having even lived in his “$20 mil mansion”:
Twenty mill’ mansion, never lived in it
Zero edge pool, never dipped in it”
The Weeknd, ‘Snowchild’
With this confession, it comes as a bit of a surprise that The Weeknd chose to go even bigger for his next home. But since his 2021 album, After Hours, did extremely well and earned him plenty of extra money to spare, the next obvious course was to go even grander.
This time, he went for a sprawling 33,000-square-foot megamansion. That’s triple the size of his previous house!
The Bel-Air megamansion wasn’t even on the market
The home’s previous owners, Dutch media mogul Reinout Oerlemans and wife Danielle Oerlemans were not even planning on selling the Bel Air mansion.
But Abel’s agents, Rayni and Branden Williams of The Beverly Hills Estates, convinced them to show it to the music star, which eventually led to the sale.
The couple acquired the property back in 2015 for $21.4 million. Originally, the house had an early-2000s Tuscan villa aesthetic. The Oerlemans oversaw a complete redesign of the property to extraordinary results.
Its interior design was apparently “horrendous” before the renovation. But, Mr. Oerleman saw potential and loved the location. The house sits on 1.6 acres of land and directly overlooks the exclusive Bel-Air Country Club.
Revamping such a massive property is no simple undertaking. It took a whole three years to finish the project.
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But, the reconstruction proved to be a great investment because the property turned into one of the most impressive pieces of real estate in prime lower Bel Air.
The Weeknd’s house: Modern contemporary elegance, plus luxurious amenities
With the outdated 2000s aesthetics gone, it now boasts contemporary elegance with modern finishings brought in from all around the world.
The mansion’s entrance greets with double gates and a lengthy driveway. The house is surrounded by a landscape of greens and lush trees on all sides, with no neighbors nearby, giving the mysterious and reclusive artist the privacy he needs.
When it comes to amenities, there is no shortage of luxurious facilities inside the pad.
There is a spa, a Turkish-inspired hammam, an indoor pool, an outdoor infinity pool with waterfalls, an indoor movie theater, a gym, a tennis court, and of course, a music studio.
All in all, the house has a total of nine bedrooms. There is also lots of space for entertaining guests — from an outdoor bar by the waterfall to a poolside lounge area equipped with a fire pit.
The formal living room perfectly encapsulates the modern extravagance of the home, featuring glossy orange walls, a black marble fireplace, and dramatic coffered ceilings with mirror panels.
Another standout area in the palatial home is the spacious kitchen, which is equipped with two marble waterfall-edge islands. The gorgeous islands are custom-made with copper cabinets featuring leather belt handles, adding a bit of rustic detail to the space.
The kitchen is also decked with floor-to-ceiling glass doors, which open to the jaw-dropping sight of the infinity pool and golf course views.
Nearly all of the common rooms in The Weeknd’s mansion are designed with floor-to-ceiling glassy doors, which gives the space a lot of natural light and also that relaxing indoor-outdoor feel.
There are also several outdoor terraces and a split double staircase that leads to a perfectly manicured lawn.
The house’s spotlight moment in The Idol
The Weeknd’s first foray into acting, writing, and producing a TV show was rocky from the get-go. The Idol has been stained with controversy even before it premiered.
From production drama to script rewrites the show had quite a few obstacles to overcome before making its way onto our screens — and was swiftly canceled due to its poor reception by TV fans.
In it, Tesfaye stars as Tedros, a cult leader who develops a toxic romance with pop star Jocelyn, played by Lily-Rose Depp. The series marks Tesfaye’s first major acting role, after appearing briefly (as himself) in Josh Safdie’s Uncut Gems in 2019.
When The Weeknd first purchased the massive Bel Air mansion, there were no plans of using it as a filming set.
But, as production was shaken up, they needed a quick resolution and a central location to serve as Jocelyn’s house. And a real-life superstar’s impressing abode seemed like the perfect fit:
“If we were going to reshoot from the beginning, I knew it had to be for less money. Sitting in Abel’s house, looking around at the 40,000 square feet, I said, ‘It’s stunning here—you can’t buy production design like this. What if we shoot it here?’” producer Sam Levinson told GQ.
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The megamansion came complete with luxurious amenities, expansive grounds, and gorgeous views, making it the perfect shooting venue.
There was little done to change the interiors and the singer’s personal home decor can be seen throughout the episodes.
According to Levinson, he and his wife “essentially moved into Tesfaye’s house” during filming, while The Weeknd moved out to protect himself from blurring the lines between fiction and reality.
The singer also owned a $19 million penthouse
As one of the highest-paid entertainers in the world with an impressive net worth estimated at around $300 million, the Canadian-born singer has plenty of cash to burn — and doesn’t shy away from doing so.
Beyond his sprawling Bel Air mansion, he also splurged $21 million in 2019 for a huge penthouse that takes up the entire 18th floor of the 22-story Beverly West in Westwood.
The penthouse Tesfaye purchased had been dubbed “the Mogul”, and sported a dark, masculine palette of deep navy blue complemented by walnut wood paneling.
The 8,215-square-foot residence also had a designer kitchen, imported wide-plank oak floors, high-end fixtures and direct elevator access, with walls of floor-to-ceiling windows framing sweeping views of Los Angeles in nearly every direction.
But the penthouse was fairly short-lived — and was soon sold at a loss.
In 2022, The Weeknd sold his Beverly West penthouse for $19 million.
From homeless to king of the castle
The Weeknd now has a net worth of around $300 million but it hasn’t always been easy for the Canadian artist. He had to work his way up from the streets of Toronto and at one point, he was homeless.
Tesfaye dropped out of high school and faced many hardships before turning his life around. He had to sleep on the couches of friends just to keep a roof over his head. A viral mixtape changed his life, leading him to become one of the most successful artists of our time.
His couch-surfing days are a thing of the past now, and with his record-breaking purchase of the sprawling Bel Air property, he’s ready to be crowned as the new Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
The road to success may have been a long and difficult one for The Weeknd. But his inspiring story is a prime example that no matter your troubled past, hard work and dedication can change your life for the better.
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