John McEnroe and Patty Smyth have put their beachfront Paradise Cove mansion on the market for $35 million, but the tennis legend and Scandal frontwoman aren't saying goodbye to Malibu altogether. The couple paid $21 million for the property in 2015 and are now listing it while quietly holding onto a smaller house nearby that they plan to keep.
The 6,500-square-foot home sits on roughly 0.3 acres directly on the sand in Paradise Cove, according to Celebrity Net Worth. Built in the mid-1990s, the four-bedroom property features a two-story fireplace in the main living space, an elevator and dumbwaiter connecting its levels, and a lower-level wet bar that opens onto a covered deck with a private Jacuzzi. The grounds also include an oceanfront deck, plus a waterfall and tiki hut-style pavilion that McEnroe and Smyth reportedly used as a gym and yoga space.
A Billionaire's Backyard
Paradise Cove has earned the nickname “Billionaires' Bluff” among local real estate agents, and for good reason: it has twice produced the most expensive residential sale in California history. Beyoncé and Jay-Z bought a Tadao Ando-designed oceanfront compound there for $200 million in May 2023, a record-setting deal reported by the Los Angeles Times. Steve Jobs' widow, Laurene Powell Jobs, also owns a home in the enclave after completing her fourth adjacent land purchase there in June 2024, part of a compound investment topping $170 million, while venture capitalist Marc Andreessen set a then-record in 2021 by paying $177 million for a seven-acre clifftop compound with 13 structures, a private cinema, and a spa.
The broader Los Angeles luxury market has cooled in recent years. High-end home sales of $10 million and above across Los Angeles County fell 37 percent in 2023 to 232 transactions, down from 370 the year before, a decline tied to rising interest rates and the city's Measure ULA transfer tax, per The Real Deal. Malibu operates as its own city outside ULA's jurisdiction, and Paradise Cove's blufftop properties have largely kept their cachet despite the broader slowdown.
Why McEnroe and Smyth Aren't Leaving Malibu
This isn't the couple's exit from the Southern California coast. McEnroe and Smyth also own a smaller ranch-style house on 1.5 acres nearby, which they bought for $3.35 million in 2013 and plan to retain even after the Paradise Cove sale closes. The arrangement would let them keep a toehold in Malibu alongside their primary residence on Manhattan's Upper West Side.
McEnroe's history with Malibu runs deep. He first fell for the area in the late 1970s and has described New York City and Malibu as his two favorite places in the world, saying living on the beach has helped him relax and that he's gotten better at it with age. He previously owned a home on Carbon Beach that once belonged to Johnny Carson, and for decades held a beachfront property in Malibu Colony that he acquired while married to actress Tatum O'Neal. McEnroe and Smyth later renovated that Malibu Colony house and sold it for $29 million in 2022.
McEnroe and Smyth married in 1997 and share two daughters, while McEnroe also has three adult children from his marriage to O'Neal, according to background reported by the Daily Express. The couple also owns a two-acre Southampton, New York estate valued at £4.2 million and previously sold a Manhattan apartment in 2013 for £2.5 million, part of a real estate footprint that spans both coasts.
Two Careers, One Combined Fortune
The sale reflects a fortune built across very different stages. McEnroe won seven Grand Slam singles championships and earned more than $12.5 million in official tournament prize money, with endorsement income estimated at $100 million by the early 2000s; he has also worked for years as a television commentator at Wimbledon and the US Open. He remains closely associated with his famous on-court outburst, “You cannot be serious!”
Smyth made her name as lead singer of the band Scandal, known for hits including Goodbye to You and The Warrior, and later recorded Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough as a duet with Don Henley. Together, the couple has a combined net worth of $100 million, though they say they spend most of their time in New York.
The Paradise Cove listing lands amid a stretch of local headlines out of Malibu, from a kayaker's shark bite near Paradise Cove to an ongoing dispute over sand access along the coast. For now, the $35 million listing marks another chapter in Paradise Cove's run of headline-grabbing real estate, even as its most famous former residents keep a quieter home just down the road.
