Forget the jewelry, private jets and fleet of expensive cars. When I make a ton of money, the only thing I want is an absolutely insane mansion. A jaw-dropping mansion that needs a team of people maintaining it 24 hours a day. A mansion that would make Tony Montana blush with envy. I want a bowling alley, home theater, wine cellar, infinity pool, spa, gym, freaky sex dungeon. You know, the works! Once I have all that covered, then I'll go out and buy a few cars, a nice watch, maybe a couple of DVDs for the home theater. Sure I'd love to own a private jet if that was in the cards. But I'd also be perfectly happy "only" flying first class for the rest of my life if I was going home to my dream mansion.
Celebrities seem to really love buying over-the-top mansions. And when you compare some of these mansions to the humble houses the celebs grew up in, the contrast is pretty incredible, Let's take a look at a few celebrity childhood homes compared to their current mansions.
Rapper 50 Cent spent much of his childhood living in a drug infested war zone in Jamaica, Queens. After his mother died, he moved in with his grandparents in this house. 50 owns this house today and recently remodeled it and a few other houses in the neighborhood. Up until his bankruptcy, 50 Cent lived in a 50,000 square foot mansion in Connecticut.
Celine Dion grew up in a poverty-stricken family in Charlemagne, Quebec, Canada. Her father was a butcher and the family lived above this shop which is a drugstore today.
Today Celine lives at this 6 acre, $72 million, Florida compound!
Dr. Dre lived in an extremely modest home in Compton, California.
Here's the $50 million Brentwood mansion Dr. Dre bought from Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen:
Eminem famously used a photo of this childhood home on the cover of The Marshall Mathers LP. The house, where Em spent most of his teenage years, was located at 19946 Dresden in between 7 and 8 Mile road. Last November, the abandoned home was damaged by fire and subsequently torn down by the city of Detroit.
In 2003, Eminem bought a 15,000 square foot house in Oakland County Michigan from the former CEO of Kmart for $4.8 million. It's located at 5760 Winkler Mill Rd Rochester Hills, Michigan 48306, but just be warned, Eminem has retrofitted the property into a virtual fortress complete with electric fences and guard booths that are manned 24 hours a day by armed security.
Oprah Winfrey was born and raised in a tiny wood shack.
Today Oprah owns several incredible mansions around the world. My personal favorite is this mind-boggling property in Montecito, California:
