Bravo Mauricio Umansky
Mauricio Umansky opened up about one of the biggest celebrity real estate deals he was involved in.
“The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” husband founded his real estate brokerage firm, The Agency, in 2011, per his company bio, and one of his early deals was a pretty big deal.
In a March 2023 interview, Umansky said he shared a special moment with Michael Jackson before he was hired to sell the $23.9 million Carolwood Drive mansion the singer lived in more than 10 years ago.
“Michael sang a cappella in his home for me, and it was incredible,” Umansky told Pickleball magazine of the King of Pop, who died in 2009. “That was very special and something I will never forget.”
Mauricio Umansky Talked About Selling Michael Jackson’s Mansion
GettyMauricio Umansky
In 2012, Umansky was named the listing agent for the late pop star’s famous rented Holmby Hills property. While the mansion featured amenities such as a movie theater and wine cellar, it was also the home where Jackson died at age 50. But Umansky saw the home’s history as a huge draw.
“I personally think there’s some great energy in the house and I see it as a major positive. I’m excited to be selling it,” Umansky told Zillow at the time.
“It is what it is,” he added. “There’s no need to hide it. Michael Jackson was an amazing human being — he changed music as we know it. Unfortunately, he passed away. It doesn’t take away from the house… He loved the master bedroom and he loved the grounds. He was happy there.”
Umansky has revealed that he will share stories about his family’s friendship with Jackson in his upcoming book, “The Real Deal.”
“Michael Jackson actually grew up with my wife,” Umansky said during an interview on Dear Media’s “Trading Secrets with Jason Tartick” podcast in January 2023. “Michael Jackson taught my wife how to moonwalk on a pool table down in Encino when they were kids. So, you know, there was a little bit of family connection with Michael.”
Kyle Richards Has Fond Memories of Growing Up With Michael Jackson
GettyMichael Jackson in 1972.
Umansky’s wife, Kyle Richards, previously opened up about her childhood memories of hanging out with Jackson, who was 10 years her senior. “Michael just the most loving sweet gentle kind soul I’ve ever maybe met,” she said in a 2017 interview with “The Tomorrow Show.”
“When I was a little girl I remember he taught me how to do the robot standing on my pool table in the den in my house,” she said. Richards also recalled going to the roller rink with the Jackson 5 singer.
As an adult, she once took Jackson’s two oldest children, Prince and Paris, to the movies. “I felt so much pressure,” Richards revealed. “I went and took his kids to the movies with me, and I was so nervous… I mean there’s bodyguards and everything.”
Richards noted that the “Thriller” singer told his little girl that she’d be going with “Aunt Kyle,” and that at the theater his polite kids called their dad to ask if it was okay if they accepted a Sprite and Skittles from their auntie. “If people knew that side of him, just the sweetest, kindest man, such a great father, really,” Richards said.
Richards met Jackson through her older sister, Kathy Hilton, who went to the same school as he did. Hilton and Jackson both attended a California prep school in the 1970s, per the 2006 book “House of Hilton.”
According to Yahoo Entertainment, in May 2011, Hilton told CNN’s Piers Morgan that she met Jackson when she was 13 years old.
“[We] developed a friendship and a bond throughout the years. And we always kept in touch,” Hilton said. “And then when I moved to New York and he would come, and we’d always go to his concerts. And, you know, we started with — we used to make prank phone calls together. And we were little kids.”