COVID-19 + NYC Real Estate
Hugh Jackman and friend in SoHo on May 21. (Raymond Hall/Getty Images)
New York City, much as we love it, can be a difficult place to live. Between the COVID quarantine and the protests, which are so important but can become so violent, these are tough times in the city. If you are in need of a more lighthearted distraction — and aren’t we all right now? — let’s take a moment to think about which celebrities are quarantined in NYC, same as you. There are quite a few! (And look, now you have something in common with Wolverine. Who knew?)
11 Celebrities Quarantined in NYC During COVID-19
Hugh Jackman
Yup, there’s a superhero among us! Wolverine himself, Hugh Jackman, is holed up in Manhattan with his family during the quarantine. He’s been spotted walking his adorable French bulldog in SoHo, with a mask on for safety. As Jackman explained to Variety in April, he has been living in NYC while in rehearsals for a big Broadway revival of “The Music Man.” Pre-COVID, the production was scheduled to start previews in September. (That schedule is, of course, up in the air right now.)
Running errands downtown on May 11. (Raymond Hall/Getty Images)
Jackman is no newcomer to NYC, either. He might be best known as a movie star, but he is also a bonafide Broadway sensation, having won two Tony awards and hosted the Tonys four times. He even won an Emmy for hosting the Tonys in 2005! As he tells Variety, he and his family have been spending their NYC quarantine much like the rest of us: hanging around their apartment, doing jigsaw puzzles, and trying out new recipes in the kitchen.
Spike Lee
It’s a little less surprising that die-hard New Yorker Spike Lee is waiting out the pandemic in his beloved hometown. He recently spoke to the New York Times about his upcoming film, “Da 5 Bloods,” premiering on Netflix June 12. In the story, he reveals that he has been isolating in his Upper East Side home with his wife and children.
Lee purchased this stunning UES townhouse for $16.6 million in 1998.
Lee’s not forgoing his famous eccentricity, though. He’s been going for daily rides on his custom bicycle, painted orange-and-blue for the NY Knicks. With helmet and mask securely on, of course!
Al Roker
Look who else is waiting things out in an Upper East Side townhouse! “Today” co-host Al Roker has been reporting the weather every morning from the kitchen of a limestone beauty in the East 80s.
Al Roker delivers the weather report from his Upper East Side townhouse.
He has lived there with his family since buying the place in 2000 for $3.25 million. In fact, as he told Closer Weekly, he actually bought the place after attending a dinner party at Spike Lee’s home nearby! We guess he was impressed with Spike’s style.
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Andy Cohen
The Bravo star and host of “Watch What Happens Live” has been spending his quarantine in Manhattan with his young son, Ben. TMZ spotted the pair cheering for frontline healthcare workers outside Lenox Health Greenwich Village, not far from the West Village townhouse Cohen calls home. (If you are a regular viewers — or one of his nearly 4 million Instagram followers — you’ve seen plenty of snippets of the place!)
Andy Cohen hosting “Watch What Happens Live” from his West Village home. (Bravo/Getty Images)
Cohen actually contracted COVID-19 himself in March and is now, thankfully, fully recovered.
Sarah Jessica Parker
Among those most thankful for Cohen’s recovery is certainly actress and fashion icon Sarah Jessica Parker, his friend and frequent date to the annual Met Gala. The elite event was called off this year due to the pandemic, but that didn’t keep these two celebrities quarantined in NYC from spending quality time together.
As captured in these adorable pics from the Daily Mail, Cohen and son paid a visit to SJP and son at her own West Village townhouse in May. Parker is seen, mask on, taking videos of the father & son on her phone and hanging out on the stoop together, six feet apart of course.
Karlie Kloss
Speaking of Bravo stars and fashion stars, Karlie Kloss of “Project Runway” has also been spending her quaran-time in NYC. Hollywood Life reported on her entire outfit in elaborate detail on when she was spotted out and about on May 14. (And yes, she did wear accessorize her famous face with a mask in addition to those Jacques Marie Mage Ascari Noir sunglasses.)
Kloss’s previous home was this lovely West Village townhouse.
Kloss shared her love of clapping for frontline workers every evening — and the gorgeous view from her new Manhattan terrace — on Instagram and the Bravo website.
Olivia Palermo
Pandemic walkabouts are the best time to show off your outfit, apparently. Influencer and fashion mogul Olivia Palermo has been photographed in a variety of impressive ensembles while walking her dog around Brooklyn during the past several weeks.
One accessory is always the same, though: a face mask. “Safety, but make it fashion,” as Palermo advised her 6.4 million Instagram followers.
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Mary-Kate Olsen
Seems like fashion folks just can’t quit the city. With her twin sister Ashley, Mary-Kate Olsen became even more successful as a fashion designer than she was as a child star. Their couture line, The Row, has won them five awards and 11 nominations from the influential Council of Fashion Designers of America.
Mary-Kate Olsen and her soon-to-be-ex shared an opulent Manhattan townhouse.
But Olsen is having a sad NYC quarantine indeed. M-K lives in an extravagant Turtle Bay townhouse with her husband, French banker Olivier Sarkozy — or she did, until she filed for divorce in spectacular fashion in the middle of the pandemic. She went so far as to request an emergency order from the New York courts, which were closed due to COVID to all but the most urgent cases, on May 13. The request was denied, but she filed anyway on the day the city courts reopened.
Justin Theroux
Actor/producer/screenwriter Justin Theroux — perhaps better known as Jennifer Aniston’s ex — has been spotted downtown walking his pit bull, Kuma, on multiple occasions during the pandemic (mask on!). He even Instagrammed a romantic candlelight dinner he prepared in his West Village apartment for… yup, the dog! Awww.
However, Theroux is in the news lately for a much less cute reason: He is embroiled in an ugly legal battle with his downstairs neighbors that has been making lurid headlines in city gossip columns. The dispute has resulted in multiple court filings, lawsuits, and 911 calls over complaints at their co-op.
Gayle King
“CBS This Morning” co-host Gayle King is another of the celebrities quarantined in NYC right now. In fact, as she told USA Today, she tapes the show from her apartment’s family room in the mornings and then later hosts her SiriusXM radio show, “Gayle King in the House,” from the kitchen. Talk about a home-office setup!
When she’s not working, King plays Zoom games with friends to pass the time, as many of us do (except her friends include Oprah!). And, again as many of us do, she lives in an apartment with no outdoor space and longs for fresh air. “I have a very lovely apartment in New York but it doesn’t have outdoor space,” she told USA Today. “So I really do crave the outside, more than I ever thought that I would.” Your fellow New Yorkers are with you there, Gayle.
Trevor Noah
From morning shows to late-night shows, plenty of TV hosts are riding out the pandemic — and creating home-taped versions of their shows — in NYC. Trevor Noah, for example, has reinvented “The Daily Show” as “The Daily Social Distancing Show,” broadcasting from his fabulous home in Hell’s Kitchen.
Trevor Noah hosts “The Daily Social Distancing Show” from his Hell’s Kitchen apartment.
In April he commemorated his one-month “quarantineversary” with a satirically emotional video montage celebrating all the fun he’s had while isolating on camera (and his impressive collection of sweatshirts). Good guy Noah is even paying the salaries of 25 furloughed “Daily Show” crew members out of his own pocket until production can resume. Well done, sir.
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