Chelsea Handler has a lot to say about the nearly $6 million Brentwood mansion she bought from Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cheryl Hines, and none of it is good. The comedian has been making the rounds on her podcast and late-night TV, and the list of complaints about the property is something else entirely.
She Didn’t Even Know Who She Was Buying From
Handler purchased the couple’s Brentwood estate for $5.9 million in 2021, buying the home through her sister Simone’s trust. The transaction was completely anonymous on both sides, so she had zero idea the sellers were RFK Jr. and Cheryl Hines. She only found out after receiving a note from Hines, and her reaction was essentially, “Oh no.” As she put it herself, RFK Jr. is “the one person in the world” she would have flagged as someone whose house not to buy.
The Foundation Was a Complete Disaster
Here’s where things get truly wild. Handler says inspectors told her the home had “the most toxic environment” and that she couldn’t move in for at least two years. Not a minor fix or a leaky pipe situation. The engineers apparently told her she shouldn’t even be standing inside the place. Handler’s exact words: “I’m not exaggerating any of this. It was a disaster, and I didn’t know it going in because everything was, you know, under wraps.” She even took a swipe at RFK Jr.’s day job over it, pointing out the irony of the man running America’s health department not having “a proper foundation at his house.”
People Told Her the House Was Cursed
If toxic and structurally compromised wasn’t enough, at least three separate people told Handler the home was “cursed.” Just casually cursed. Handler, to her credit, seemed to take that information in stride, though she did ask anyone who knows someone who blesses homes to please get in touch.
There Was an Illegal Storage Unit on the Property
The last straw for Handler was discovering that an outdoor storage unit on the property was illegal. She had to deal with removing it, and her response was characteristically blunt: “So now we have to remove his illegal bullshit from my property.”
She Couldn’t Move In for Five Years
Handler finally moved into the home for the first time only recently, confirming the news during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live.
She quoted the engineers (who inspected the Brentwood home after the purchase) as calling the home “the most toxic environment” and telling her, “You cannot live here for at least two years.”
Five years is an extraordinary amount of time to sit on a $6 million property you can’t actually live in. She also joked on the show that she now has “chlamydia, herpes, and measles” from moving in, a reference to some of RFK Jr.’s more controversial health positions.
Cheryl Hines Left a Note
And then there’s the note. Hines left Handler a message saying, “Let us know if there’s anything we can do for you, Chelsea.” Handler’s response to that generous offer? “Yeah, how about a f—ing foundation?” She added, for the record, that she is “totally over it.” Nobody believed her.
The Other Side of the Story
Sources close to Kennedy and Hines pushed back, saying Handler is simply painting herself as a “victim” and using the home’s condition to discredit the political couple. The source also noted that inspection mechanisms were available during the sale, and due diligence was Handler’s responsibility. Kennedy and Hines have not commented directly. Reports also suggest the property has since climbed in value to around $8 million, which is either a silver lining or deeply annoying, depending on how you look at it.
Handler has made clear she has plenty of pre-existing feelings about RFK Jr.’s politics, so the home saga has only added fuel to an already well-lit fire. Whether any formal action follows remains to be seen, but one thing is certain: she’s not recommending the Mandeville Canyon neighbourhood to anyone anytime soon.
