In 2007, Julia Roberts built a solar-powered Malibu home using recycled materials and sustainable wood. 19 years later, her eco-friendly choices still shape how she lives

American actress Julia Roberts has said motherhood changed the way she thinks about the environment. In a Life & Style Magazine interview in 2007, she said having children was a major reason she began thinking more critically about the environment and global warming, as per a report.

At the time, Roberts was planning a $20 million eco-friendly home that would be solar-powered, use wood from sustainably managed forests and feature recycled tiles in the bathrooms, as per a People report. She also said she wanted a vehicle that could run on vegetable oil, adding that smelling like a French fry would be a small price to pay.

Julia Roberts’ Malibu home


Roberts and her husband Danny Moder bought their first Malibu property in 2003 for $9.5 million, a year after their wedding, as per an Architectural Digest report. The compound sits on a bluff overlooking the Pacific and features multiple buildings, a brick-laid motor court, an inner courtyard, grassy lawns, decks and shaded outdoor spaces.

The property reportedly has numerous solar panels that help power the eco-friendly home, along with a secluded beach a short walk away. Roberts and Moder still consider the Malibu property their primary home, where they live with their twins, Hazel and Phinnaeus, and their son, Henry.

A home away from Hollywood

Roberts has built an extensive real estate portfolio over the years, with properties in New York City, San Francisco, Taos, Hawaii, Malibu and Montana.

Her 32-acre Taos ranch, acquired sometime in the 1990s, remains a second home and is where she and Moder married on July 4, 2002. In 2022, Roberts told CBS Sunday Morning that when she is not working, being a homemaker is her full-time job and that it brings her joy, as per the Architectural Digest report.

The actor’s Malibu properties have expanded over the years, including a neighboring home purchased in 2016 and a Point Dume cottage bought in 2017.