Celebrity real estate has always been one of our biggest obsessions. We are always curious to know what luxurious homes our favorite stars live in, you know, what that amount of fame and fortune can buy you. Most of the time, when we get a sneak peek into the star’s homes, they have pretty standard living arrangements – but every once in a while, we see a house that is so bizarre we have stop and ask ourselves if the interior designer was playing some joke. When Dr. Phil’s mansion hit the real estate market, the internet was excited to see what was inside, and so were we…
Phil McGraw as We Know Him
Phil McGraw, or as you may know him, Dr. Phil, is one of Hollywood’s highest-paid celebrities. The television personality’s annual income in 2019 was a whopping $95 million. Yes, you read that right. $95 million!
Dr. Phil, who started as Oprah’s protégé, is the host of one the most-watched syndicated talk shows on television. McGraw earns an upfront fee from the show, as well as a big percentage of advertising revenue and cash from product placement. As you have probably already guessed, Dr. Phil lives a lavish life.
The Viral Listing
In early January 2020, Dr. Phil listed his Southern California mansion for sale. This may not seem like groundbreaking news, Dr. Phil isn’t generally the tabloids’ top gossip celebrity, yet lo and behold, the listing went viral.
The internet could not help but poke fun at Dr. Phil and his bizarre mansion. Social media blew up with pictures and tweets of the estate – they were saying what we were all thinking…
Welcome In
The mansion’s exterior alone gives us some mixed signals, on the one hand, it’s hard not to raise an eyebrow looking at this tangled gate. If someone were to ask us what we thought of the house based solely on the gate, we would say that the inside of this house is probably bizarre.
But as soon as you drive in, you see a completley normal house. The mansion is beautiful and welcoming, and it is hard to imagine anything out of the ordinary goes on inside…
A Seemingly Normal House
As you can see, from the outside, the mansion looks like a typical Beverly Hills house. It has a pale yellow Tuscan exterior, a crystal clear pool, green grass and palm trees, and pretty generic patio furniture.
The real estate listing pointed out that the property has “eclectic finishes,” and they couldn’t have chosen a better description of what goes on inside the house. That’s when you walk into the 6,170 square-foot interiors and wonder if you were magically transported into a different dimension.
$5.75 Million
The McGraw family hoped to sell the house without a problem, but then, the listing went viral. Not because of the mansion’s beautiful views or the huge living space – it wasn’t even because of the $5.75 million price tag.
The mansion made news because of its whacky design choices that were bizarre beyond belief. A representative of the McGraw family said that Dr. Phil himself has never lived in the home, his son, Jordan, is currently using it.
Interior “Design”
Images of the house uncovered how unusual the interior design is. Nothing like you’d expect a world-renowned psychologist to have. At first glance, the exterior of the mansion makes it seem like a normal house.
When you step inside that, you suddenly realize that something is a little off. The mansion has many unusual features – a room with a pool table with large claws and a grand staircase with huge vines wrapped around it. It’s all a bit out of this world…
Tim Burton Inspired
In the past, Jordan has given reporters an exclusive tour of the unique Tim Burton inspired interior, which has since been slightly renovated. He revealed that he wanted to create his fantasy world.
“The whole place, the idea is kind of Tim Burton threw up on a canvas, and it turned into a house,” he explained. A serpent fountain greets visitors, a replica of the one at the beginning of the famous Halloween classic, A Nightmare Before Christmas. “Unfortunately, Jack Skeleton hasn’t crawled out of it yet,” Jordan said jokingly.
The Entry
Walking through the entrance of the property, everything looks pretty standard – other than the fact that there is a purple swing as you walk in. Although the color scheme isn’t our favorite (in our opinion, all black everything is a little ’80s), there is nothing too weird about this entrance.
Perhaps this was a tactical move, an attempt to reassure guests that this is a somewhat normal home and not a house of horrors.
The Living Room
Initially, the living room looks like a standard living room. As a whole, this looks like a nice living room, but then you notice that nothing matches, and the longer you look, the weirder it gets.
This living room is a mix-matched mess, with custom art and animal figurines that surround the fireplace. According to the listing, these one-of-a-kind pieces can be kept upon purchase of the property.
The Great Room
Walking into the great room is where things start getting a little too eerie. There is a chandelier that looks like it came straight out of an evil queen’s castle. The chandelier sits under a black and white checkered dome, and for reasons beyond our understanding stands as the centerpiece of the house’s wet bar.
Naturally, our eye is drawn to the sweeping staircase draped in woody vines. To top it all off, the bar’s stools have antler-like backrests.
Through the Looking Glass
At first glance, the black and white ceiling looks like it must be a mistake – it looks like when the McGraw family purchased the property, no one had the energy or time to repaint!
But when you pay a little more attention to detail, you notice that the black-and-white ceiling and the entryway are designed to look like the rabbit hole that Alice In Wonderland crawls through. This is yet another homage to Tim Burton, who directed the film in 2010.
The Fireplace
This second living room, which was described on the listing as “the fireplace” is, in our opinion, a pretty chic room. There is a post-modern art-deco vibe, and we like it. The truth of the matter is, it seems like the interior designer had so many ideas, they decided to pour them all into this one room – somehow it worked in their favor.
There isn’t any room for anything else on these walls, so if the person buying this property has art pieces of their own, they’d better find a place to hang them elsewhere.
On Point Art Dealer
Twitter quickly became the main source of ridicule for the McGraws’ house. Many people commented on the random art that was featured throughout the whole house, claiming that an art dealer saw this guy coming a mile away and got ready.
One user tweeted, “If you spend a bunch of money, I guess you can call anything ‘art.'” The internet had questions, and they wanted answers. We want answers as well, does Jordan not know how to say no to bad art?
The Living Room
If you haven’t noticed until now, there are bizarre figurines of rabbits and bears in almost every living space. We don’t know who loves these figurines or why, but in our opinion, they are just plain creepy – it seems as though you can’t walk into a room without having an animal stare you down.
That’s the least of this room’s problems, the couch is way too big (and weirdly colored), and there seems to be a pile of suitcases in the middle of the room. Not much of a family room if you ask us…
The Dining Room
If this were our dining room, we’d probably eat at restaurants for the rest of our lives. We’ll start with the light fixture. It is creepy enough to make us lose our appetites – and the dark walls don’t help. This room is uninviting, to say the least, the carpet is making us dizzy, and the heavy chairs are just too much.
To top it all off, if you do decide to eat in this room, you’ll be dining with an orange bear figurine that will be staring you down throughout the whole meal.
The Billiards Room
Just as you would expect, Jordan’s house has a game room, a billiard room to be exact. You would guess that such a room would be simple, all you need is a simple billiard table and a couple of pictures hanging on the walls, and you’re good to go. Nope, not as far as this interior designer was concerned.
The decked-out billiard table matches the floors, each one of the table’s legs has it’s own special standing point on the royal blue floor. Confused? Us too.
Spilled Milk
Another room that was the main source of the internet’s infatuation with the house was the billiard room. People could not stop tweeting about how ridiculous the pool table’s legs looked.
One Twitter user wrote that the room looked like they were going for a “cracked ice look on a budget,” while others commented on how it looked like someone had spilled milk near the pool table. What seemed to be an innocent house listing turned into the internet’s biggest gag.
Before the Remodel
Before the royal blue floors and billiard table, McGraw’s game room looked a little different. The room is almost unrecognizable as it was painted matte black – though, as you can see, the lighting fixture survived the remodel.
The house also featured three pinball machines and a floating mini-golf court, which made for the perfect space for a recording artist to relax and unwind in between recordings. The young artist often lets friends live in the house with him when they need a place to crash.
The Master Bedroom
McGraw and his 43-year-old actress girlfriend, Ragan Wallake, enjoyed the master suite upstairs. The blue room is one of five bedrooms and six bathrooms and opens up to a private balcony overlooking the half-acre grounds.
From the angle in which this photo was taken, the room does not look that big, but if we had a bed that looked anything like this one, we would probably never leave it. The view from the room is breathtaking, so it’s hard to imagine why anyone would want to give it up.
Cheshire Cat
Peeking into another bedroom, we see it has an Alice in Wonderland vibe to it. Jordan’s Sphynx cat had its own treehouse and to be honest, it looks fancier than anything we have ever owned. As you can see, the bedsheets and carpet are the same in both rooms.
The only things that differentiate the two beautiful bedrooms are the wall’s colors and the room’s overall theme. It looks as though Jordan let his guests sleep in the Tim Burton styled room while he enjoyed a more mainstream bedroom. Which room would you rather sleep in?
The Kitchen
Another major renovation moment this house had, happened in the kitchen – and let us just say, we are happy it did. The old kitchen had a dark theme to it, it seems like they were going for an all-black-everything vibe.
Although we’re guessing it was supposed to look slick and chic, cooking meals in such a dark and disturbing environment does not seem appetizing at all. After the remodel, the room opened up, it looks much bigger than it did before, and also very welcoming.
Living in a Mansion
Jordan and his bandmates, who used to live in the house, were big partiers. “We’ve been known to have a few parties,” Jordan admits. He said that his neighbors were forgiving and that he and his nearest neighbors have a “don’t call the cops policy” – they text each other when they’re too loud.
Jordan’s famous father, Dr. Phil, always calls before stopping by. “He is really, really good about never coming over unannounced,” Jordan said, laughing.
Dr. Phil’s Properties
This unusual house was not the first major property Dr. Phil has sold throughout the years. In 2011, the TV host and his wife, Robin, sold their Mediterranean villa in Beverly Hills for $12 million.
The gated property is nearly three-quarters of an acre, and it has a main house, a guesthouse, an outdoor dining room, and a swimming pool. The main house features a two-story entry, a theater, a gym, eight bedrooms, and nine bathrooms.
Son of a Star
Jordan McGraw, 31, is a budding musician. He started playing guitar at 15 years old and has been working hard at establishing a pretty successful career. It may seem like McGraw has had help from his father pursuing a career in music, but Jordan has been working hard for years to make a name for himself.
Over the past 15 years, Jordan has been a part of three bands and is now taking on solo endeavors. In late 2019, he dropped a single with actress Sarah Hyland.
Time to Move On
Jordan, who is currently on tour with the Jonas Brothers as the band’s opening act, has enjoyed the house thoroughly since moving in. He has made it his own, adding a recording studio, a candy wall, and ultimately decorating the house exactly the way he envisioned it to be.
Despite the internet poking fun at him, Jordan loves the house and is proud of what he has accomplished in it. He even posted many videos that were filmed inside the house to his YouTube channel.
The Happiness Begins Tour
Jordan, who has been working at his musical career for years, is finally catching his break as he is opening for the Jonas Brothers, who are on tour promoting their fifth studio album.
He has gushed about his enjoyment of the tour on many occasions, revealing that he and the brothers have more fun backstage than they do on stage – reassuring the readers that they have a lot of fun onstage. We can’t help but wonder if the brothers have been to McGraw’s eccentric mansion – and if so, we’re dying to know what they thought of it.