Conspicuous Consumption

Every Saturday I read the Los Angeles Times or at least parts of it.  The Home section usually has Chris Erskine's column which is always amusing.  Also described are large homes for sale by well-known people.  Today Ellen DeGeneres and Portia Di Rossi's home was featured.


In 2007, Ellen, if I may be so bold as to use her first name, bought 3 lots and combined them to build an estate. She built a four structure compound.  There are 15,000 square feet of interior space including  a 9200 square foot house, 2 guesthouses and one more 3 bedroom house she uses as an office. That one alone is probably bigger than my house.  There are generous lawns with "outdoor living spaces", a swimming pool and even a koi pond. Yuck, I hate koi, so that doesn't win the property any points.  Now I may not be keeping up with celebrity families but I think that Ellen and Portia are childless.  So that's a lot of room for 2 people.  Oh, and the asking price is $49,000,000.


So let's do the math here: Ellen bought 3 properties in 2007 (4 years ago), presumably remodeled them to her specifications and is selling them a mere 4 years later.  What happened? Did she decide three gated properties weren't enough for her and her gal pals? Was the whole venture an investment? Is she bored with her creation already? Did she build it and they didn't come?


I certainly can't say but she is guilty of glaring conspicuous consumption.  It seems at odds with her public persona and perhaps that's what caught my eye. There are some celebrities that you expect will build huge mansions in various places.  But she's basically a daytime TV talk show host which apparently is a lucrative gig. Think Oprah. She dresses down, has a haircut from Supercuts, and sits cross-legged on her couch showing off her Converse All Stars. She dances in the aisles of her show a seeming "everywoman" and plays ridiculous games with members of her audience.  So all in all she portrays herself as down to earth and just like the rest of us (aside from the sexual orientation).


Disappointingly,  she's just like the rest of the celebrity set.  Based on her housing alone she spends lavishly and capriciously building a huge estate only to sell it when it's barely done. Not much difference between her and Paris Hilton as far as I can tell. Throwing large sums of money around to... I can't even think why. To keep up with celebrity friends or to prove that she's worth something? 


What I do know is that I don't regularly watch daytime TV, too busy working for that. And I can't imagine being so self-absorbed and materialistic that I couldn't put that kind of money to better use almost anywhere.