In selling celeb homes, brokers hide evidence of famous residents

Despite having stage or screen presence — or posing for magazine photographs inside their homes — celebrities who list their homes generally don’t aim to attract this same level of attention, the New York Times reported. They sign confidentiality agreements or hide behind limited liability companies or lawyers; brokers, for their part, do their best to get rid of the evidence that someone famous lives there.

“Turn them over, lock them up, throw them under the bed,” Dolly Lenz of Douglas Elliman told the Times. “And it’s not just the obvious, valuable stuff we normally worry about, not just a pair of cuff links or a diamond ring … it’s anything small that can be pocketed. Because if it’s from their apartment, suddenly it’s a memento.”

On the other hand, Matthew Modine isn’t as concerned with privacy. The actor, of “Full Metal Jacket” fame, appeared in a video with his listing sales agent, Halstead’s Mark Friedman, to show his home, as The Real Deal previously reported. He even left photographs of his family and his kids’ artwork around the Chelsea home. The one-bedroom home remains on the market.

“I would have liked to remove these items, and I wish I had before some photos began to appear on Twitter,” Modine told the Times. “But you know, this is the age we live in. Nothing is really truly private. I don’t know if there ever was a time.” [NYT] —Zachary Kussin