Viewers of HBO’s new drama series The Idol have, perhaps uknowingly, been offered a glimpse inside The Weeknd’s sprawling Bel-Air mansion.
The six-episode series began on Sunday 4 June and is airing one episode per week on HBO’s streaming platform Max. It has already proven controversial despite having dropped only two episodes so far, amid accusations of objectification and overtly sexual themes.
However, people are still tuning into the show, created by Euphoria’s Sam Levinson, with nearly a million (913k) viewers across HBO and Max for its premiere. The Independent gave it four out of five stars and described it as a “sordid drama” that “comes close to a profound insight into our times”.
According to Rolling Stone, budget restrictions led Canadian musician, actor and producer, real name Abel Tesfaye, to open up his nine-bedroom mansion as one of the show’s main locations.
Tesfaye, who stars in the series as Tedros alongside Lily-Rose Depp as flailing pop star Jocelyn, purchased the huge property for US$70m in 2021. It was one of the most expensive property sales that took place in LA that year, according to Architectural Digest.
Tesfaye previously owned a 13,391-square-foot estate in the Hidden Hills in California, which he bought for US$18.2m in 2017 and sold to Madonna four years later for US$25m.
The Bel-Air mansion covers a whopping 33,000-square-feet and looms over a 1.6-acre lot that overlooks the Bel Air Country Club. It was previously owned by Reinout Oerlemans, a Dutch media mogul whose production company, Eyeworks, operates across Europe, Scandinavia, South America, New Zealand, Australia and the United States.
After the Oelermans first bought the property in 2015 for US$21.4m, they added 13,000-square feet of space and a number of amenities.
The mansion boasts a gym, indoor movie theatre, sauna, Turkish hammam-inspired spa, and an indoor pool, as well as a music studio, which could have clinched it for Tesfaye. It has nine bedrooms and plenty of space for entertaining visitors – or, to accommodate a film crew.
There’s an outdoor bar and a poolside lounge area with a fire pit by the infinity pool with a waterfall. A sports court also sits on the grounds, while a split double staircase leads to a patio on the manicured lawn.
Surrounding the property are lush greens and trees on all sides, giving it plenty of privacy. There are also no nearby neighbours, given how large the grounds of the mansion are, and a long driveway just to get to the front of the house.
Tesfaye’s extreme wealth is a far cry from the days of his youth, when he lived in poverty. He became homeless as a teenager, after dropping out of school.
Speaking to Interview magazine this year, he recalled going into video stores in Toronto to look at films he’d never seen but could not afford to buy or rent them.
“I didn’t have any money. That’s when I was homeless, around 17, 18. I’d just walk in there and pretend I was going to rent something,” he said. “Look, it was as complicated as a f***ing teenager being homeless in Toronto in 2007, 2008.
“The struggle – there was something magical about it. There’s something magical about being in this new place and trying to start from the beginning and create your own new narrative as an adult. It was fun.”
