The Holmby Hills estate of the late Betsy Bloomingdale is on the market, but you won’t be able to scroll through pictures of it on the Multiple Listing Service. That’s because it’s a "whisper" listing, meaning that the home is not advertised or listed publicly.
Rodeo Realty’s Josh Flagg, the star of "Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles," confirmed to Mansion Global that he is the broker for the home, which belonged to Bloomingdale, who passed away in July at the age of 93. He had no further comment.
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One person who reportedly is well aware that the home is on the market is Tom Ford, the fashion designer who is about to release his second movie "Nocturnal Animals," starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Amy Adams.
Variety reported that Mr. Ford was interested in the property and willing to pay north of $40 million for it, well below the property’s $55 reported million price tag. A spokesman for Mr. Ford declined to comment.
The American socialite and philanthropist married into the Bloomingdale family, known for its famous eponymous department store, and spent most of her life in Los Angeles, where she hosted close friends Nancy Reagan, Joan Collins and Joan Rivers.
She made headlines in the 1980s when she financially cut off her husband Arthur Bloomingdale’s mistress, Vicki Morgan, after his death. The latter sued his estate and widow for $10 million.
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According to Town & Country and Variety, celebrity decorator Billy Haines worked with the couple in the 1950s to transform the late-1920s Spanish colonial home into a glamorous Hollywood Regency-style affair.
The 10,000-square-foot estate has nine bedrooms, seven bathrooms, a library, an outdoor living room, a pool house, tennis court and a rose garden. It also boasts numerous formal and informal entertaining spaces where the well connected couple hosted Hollywood’s glitterati.