90’s pop legend turns back on America as he sells sprawling California mansion for £51million
ROBBIE WILLIAMS ran off to Hollywood to escape superstardom in the UK – where he couldn’t walk down the street without being recognised.
But after 18 years in Los Angeles, he has packed up for good and sold his only remaining property there.
I can reveal he has flogged his mansion in the uber-rich Holmby Hills for a staggering £51.6million — making a handsome £12.3million profit.
He bought the three-house estate, featuring eight bedrooms, 11 bathrooms, pool, tennis court and garage fit for 15 luxury cars, for £39.3million in March 2022.
Only last month, The Angels singer was seen playing with his son on the tennis court at the property.
It was nicknamed the Funny Girl Estate, having originally been built by comedian Fanny Brice, whose life story inspired hit musical Funny Girl.
It was never actively on the market, which suggests Robbie and his wife Ayda Field got an offer they couldn’t refuse.
It was snapped up by Australian billionaire Nick Molnar, who co-founded the buy now, pay later firm Afterpay.
The former Take That singer has sold four properties in the past two years, with the only asset being his £17.5million home in Kensington, West London.
In March 2022, his Beverly Hills home was bought by rapper Drake for £59.5million, then he flogged his Wiltshire country pad for £6.75million.
His Swiss mansion near Lake Geneva was also put on the market for £24million.
Robbie said last year: “We don’t want to live in California all the time. It’s just not the best place in the world to be raising teenagers and we’re going to have four teenagers eventually.
“Life is too fast there. I grew up too fast. There are too many ways to grow up even quicker. We want to avoid that.”
He left England for a new life Stateside in 2006.
During an interview at the time, Robbie explained: “Back home, I feel like I’ve overstayed my welcome a little bit. I’ve enjoyed tremendous success for over ten years now, far more than I should have or I ever would have dreamed I’d have.
“And now it’s the time for Robbie to go away in people’s minds. I think it’s time to not be in Britain for a bit.”
That period lasted nearly two decades.
Welcome home, Robbie.
Liv for it
OLIVIA Rodrigo almost flashed the crowd at London’s O2 Arena during the first of her four shows there.
She was singing the aptly titled Love Is Embarrassing on Tuesday when her leather bra top came undone leading to her dancers desperately trying to fix it.
Running to the back of the stage, she shouted: “This is f***ing embarrassing.”
She still managed to style it out and finished the song. Good on her.
Rod in Steve A.I. outcry
ROD Stewart, Paul Weller and Bryan Adams are supporting the estate of Steve Marriott against plans to bring out new music from the late singer, made using A.I.
He co-founded Small Faces and Humble Pie and died in 1991 aged 44.
There are plans to complete unfinished demos.
A raft of big names, also including Robert Plant and David Gilmour, and his daughter Mollie Marriott, are opposed to the idea.
Mollie said: “It would be a stain on my father’s name.”
One Elle of a return, Reese
IT is hard to believe that 23 years have passed since Reese Witherspoon first did the bend and snap in my favourite film, Legally Blonde.
And it is even more unfathomable that she got dressed up as her character Elle Woods again – and looked no different – to announce a prequel TV series.
Reese wore a pink skirt suit and carried a chihuahua, which looked just like her character’s pooch Bruiser, at an event in New York to promote the show.
The series on Prime Video will follow Elle as a schoolgirl in the Nineties, years before the events of the movie and its 2003 sequel.
Casting is yet to be revealed and although Reese won’t reprise her role, she will be an executive producer on the series, which will simply be called Elle.
She wrote in an online post: “Before she became the most famous Gemini vegetarian to graduate from Harvard Law, she was just a regular 90s high school girl.
“And all of you are going to get to know her next year on @prime video. I’M SO EXCITED!”
Streep's Mama return
MERYL Streep will have meetings about reprising her character Donna Sheridan in Mamma Mia! 3, despite being killed off before the 2018 sequel.
She said: “I don’t know how they’re going to do it. They have an idea. I haven’t heard it yet but it’s in [my diary] and I’m going to hear about it pretty soon.
“Of course I want to do it. Folks love it.”
Tom’s a cup hero
HERE’S a great mugshot of Tom Holland as he is greeted by fans while holding a cuppa.
The Spider-Man actor has just kicked off his run in a production of Romeo And Juliet in London’s West End, and looked chuffed at the reaction outside the Duke of York’s Theatre.
The modern-day adaptation features all the bells and whistles of a major production.
At one point he even performs on the roof of the theatre in scenes that are filmed and shown inside – as I revealed last month he would be doing.
The show will run until August 3, so Tom and his team have a busy schedule to focus on.
So good on him for sticking to hot drinks and nothing stronger.
Billie break-up lines hit hard on album
BILLIE EILISH’s music has never been the most uplifting – but her new album is more downbeat than ever.
The record, Hit Me Hard And Soft, is out tomorrow and on one track called The Greatest, she pines after a love who no longer wants her.
Billie sings: “All the times I’ve waited for you to want me naked . . . and you don’t want to know what I would have done. Anything at all. All my love and patience. I’m unappreciated. I loved you and I still do.”
Fans will no doubt wonder whether it’s a break-up track from her relationship with US singer and actor Jesse Rutherford.
They split in May last year.
Another gut-wrenching track is Skinny, in which Billie sings about feeling dead inside, despite the world praising her for slimming down.
She adds: “People say I look happy just because I look skinny. And I still cry. And you said I was your secret but you didn’t get to keep it. And the internet is hungry for the meanest kind of funny but somebody’s got to feed it.”
I have no doubt Hit Me Hard And Soft will end up with a nod at next year’s Grammys.
But for now, I need a box of tissues and tub of Ben & Jerry’s.
Rita back with a bang
RITA ORA will return with a new song in a couple of weeks, ready for summer.
The name of the track has not been revealed but she will sing it live for the first time at Mighty Hoopla festival in South London on June 2.
And she told Kelly Clarkson of her new music: “It’s a whole new thing for me. I am doing a huge LGBT festival where I will perform it. It’s a really fun one.
“I’m about to get back on the road. I feel like I need to get back to my music roots.”
Kacey’s sick of holiday
COUNTRY singer Kacey Musgraves must have regretted taking a holiday in Ireland before kicking off her current tour.
On stage at London’s Roundhouse during her sell-out gig, the seven-time Grammy winner revealed she took a solo trip to the Aran Islands ahead of the first show in Dublin, but it ended in disaster.
She said: “There were no cars there, just electric bikes. The first thing I did within ten minutes of the ride was ride like an idiot and I bashed my knee up.
“I think it hurt my feelings more than anything. It was awful.”
But that wasn’t the worst of it.
Kacey added: “I was sad and alone and I see a roadside stand selling fish and chips. So I got some.
“On the way there I petted some horses and didn’t think to wash my hands, because why would you? Cue eight hours later, it’s a sad situation.”
She added that she “probably threw up 40 times”.
Avril love cheaters
AVRIL LAVIGNE revealed in a rare interview that she has been cheated on “a s**t tonne”.
Asked if it had happened, she replied: “Have I been with a male before? Then the answer is yes.
“As much as anybody has ever fed me over, which has happened a s**t tonne, I’ve always been the classy bitch, taken the high road and kept it to myself.”
The Sk8er Boi singer, who was married to SUM 41’s Deryck Whibley and Nickelback’s Chad Kroeger, made the comment on the Call Her Daddy podcast.