Oprah Winfrey bought a Montecito estate from Jeff Bridges for $6.85 million; six years later she sold it to Adam Levine for $17.3 million

Oprah Winfrey has made another major move within her famous Montecito property portfolio, selling a Spanish-style home that once belonged to Hollywood actor Jeff Bridges. The media mogul purchased the property from Bridges in 2019 for $6.85 million. Six years later, the home changed hands again, with Adam Levine and Behati Prinsloo paying $17.27 million for the estate, as per a report by Realtor.com.

The sale gives the property another celebrity chapter while also highlighting Oprah's ongoing decision to reduce the collection of homes surrounding her famous Montecito estate.

How much did Oprah make from the Montecito sale?

According to property records, Oprah bought the Spanish-style dwelling from Jeff Bridges for $6.85 million in 2019. She later sold it to Levine and Prinsloo for $17.27 million.

Realtor.com exclusively revealed the identity of the buyers after the sale was initially reported by Siteline Santa Barbara without naming them. The deal represents a substantial increase over what Oprah paid for the property six years earlier.

The house had previously been part of the wider collection of properties surrounding Oprah's main Montecito residence, known as "The Promised Land." She purchased the enormous central estate for $50 million in 2001 and gradually added surrounding parcels over the years.

More recently, however, Oprah has been selling some of those additional properties.

Two years before selling the former Bridges home, she sold another nearby property to "Friends" star Jennifer Aniston for $14.8 million. Two smaller cottages from the same estate were sold to her longtime friend and trainer, Bob Greene, for $2.3 million.

What did Adam Levine and Behati Prinsloo buy?

For Levine and Prinsloo, the Montecito purchase followed the sale of their previous home for $60 million. Their spokesperson previously said the couple wanted to move closer to their children's school and had also found a home that was "too special to resist."

Their newly acquired property is considerably smaller than their former residence. The main house measures about 3,500 square feet and includes two bedrooms and four bathrooms.

The home features exposed-beam ceilings, hardwood floors and five fireplaces. Although the main residence is modest compared with the couple's previous 13,300-square-foot home, the four-acre property includes several additional structures.

There is a one-bedroom guesthouse, a carriage house with an office and "bonus rooms," plus equestrian facilities that include a five-stall barn, corral and tack room.

The property also includes a greenhouse, lawns and gardens, an orchard, pool and spa.

The couple are expected to undertake extensive renovations. Their spokesperson described the purchase as an "exciting opportunity" and said they planned to spend around a year "developing" the estate.

What happened to the home before Oprah owned it?

The property has a long history, having been built more than 100 years ago. A previous listing said the main residence was designed by architect James Osborne Craig.

The house was extensively renovated over the years, including a significant transformation in 2016 while Bridges still owned it.

The actor and his wife were forced to leave the property by helicopter during the devastating Southern California mudslides in January 2018. Bridges later wrote on X, then known as Twitter, that his home had been "severely damaged" by the floods.

When the property was subsequently listed for sale, Bridges' listing agent told the Santa Barbara Independent that the damage had been repaired, with most of it affecting the carriage house and gardens.

Oprah bought the home the following year. It remains unclear whether she carried out additional renovations after taking ownership.

The couple also purchased another nearby property for $12.5 million at the beginning of November. That home, bought through the same trust as Oprah's former property, contains 7,300 square feet of living space, with five bedrooms and 6.5 bathrooms.

Meanwhile, Oprah's Montecito holdings have continued to shrink. Her remaining properties include the Promised Land estate and another parcel next to her main property.

Her real estate interests extend well beyond California. In Hawaii, she owns about 1,000 acres in Maui, including substantial holdings around Kula and more than 60 acres in the Hana area.

KITV reported in March 2023 that Winfrey purchased 870 agriculturally zoned acres in Kula for about $6.6 million.

She also owns a 66-acre estate in Colorado, purchased for $10.85 million in 2014, and later bought a high-tech Telluride mansion for $13.7 million in 2015.

Back in Montecito, the latest sale marks another notable change to the celebrity landscape around Oprah's Promised Land. For Levine and Prinsloo, it brings a new home with a long Hollywood history. For Oprah, it represents another profitable step in the gradual reshaping of one of California's most recognizable celebrity property portfolios.

FAQs

How much did Oprah pay for the property?
She bought it from Jeff Bridges for $6.85 million in 2019.

How much did Adam Levine pay?
Levine and Behati Prinsloo paid $17.27 million for the home.