One of the downsides of living a public and affluent life is the prevalence of scary home invasions that target celebrities. Several famous stars have been victimized in targeted burglaries and some have even come face to face with culprits who broke into their homes.
The stars might hope they are safe and sound with security measures in place, but crime waves over the past few years have proved that cunning culprits can find their way around even the most advanced security.
Due to how accessible celebrities are on social media, we often know a little too much about their affluent lifestyles and luxurious homes. Sadly, when the wrong people get this information, it can be used in dangerous ways.
“It seems that the suspects are targeting individuals [with] expensive jewelry, expensive cars and things of that nature,” LAPD Sgt. Hector Olivera told The Los Angeles Times in 2021, amid a surge in LA home invasions.
Kim Kardashian knows that all too well after she was the victim of a jewelry heist at her Paris hotel in 2016 — it was terrifying. “I just knew that was the moment. They’re just totally going to shoot me in the head,” she recalled on a 2017 episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians. “I just prayed that Kourtney’s going to have a normal life after she sees my dead body on the bed.”
It’s a reality check that public figures might want to reassess their security and find ways to outwit the criminals, who are clearly profiling and staking out their prey. It’s a scary thing to think about, but nobody wants to experience what these stars have gone through.
Find out who in Hollywood has suffered through horrific home invasions.
Hilary Duff
In 2017, Hilary Duff was on vacation with her son when her home was burglarized. The culprits reportedly got away with hundreds of thousands worth of jewelry.
Then, in 2022, the actress faced another major scare when she and her then-boyfriend, now-husband, Matthew Koma, saw an intruder lurking in their backyard, per E! News. The couple managed to scare the person away before they gained entry into the home.
Mariah Carey
In 2022, Mariah Carey’s Atlanta home was targeted in a string of armed robberies in the area, leading to three arrests.
Thankfully, neither the singer nor her family was home at the time of the invasion and it is unclear what was taken.
Paris Hilton
Paris Hilton was targeted multiple times in the 2008 and 2009 Bling Ring robberies, a string of invasions of celebrity homes carried out by LA teenagers. The members of the group alleged that Hilton’s home was often left unlocked or with a key under the mat.
Hilton later allowed director Sofia Coppola into her home to film her film adaptation of the crimes.
Benedict Cumberbatch
In 2023, a former chef in a high-end London restaurant pleaded guilty to criminal damage after allegedly breaking through Cumberbatch’s garden gate and threatening him and his family with a knife. The Oscar nominee, his wife, and their three children were home at the time of the attack.
According to the LA Times, the man allegedly uprooted a plant, threw it at a garden wall and spit into the actor’s intercom device, before attempting to dislodge it with a fish knife, before then fleeing the scene.
“Benedict and Sophie have had many sleepless nights since worrying that they may be targeted again,” a source told the Daily Mail. “The fact that it was a targeted intrusion makes it a lot more scary.”
Drake
Drake has dealt with two separate home intrusions at his LA mansion. In 2022, a man was arrested after breaking into the rapper’s house, claiming he was Drake son despite their slim 12 year age gap.
The following year, a man was arrested after Drake’s security saw footage of him exiting the rapper’s home, carrying something from the property.
David Beckham & Victoria Beckham
In 2022, David Beckham and Victoria Beckham were the victims of a terrifying home invasion that occurred while they were asleep. The couple and their 10-year-old daughter, Harper, were asleep on one of the lower levels of their London home, when a burglar came in through a top floor window, according to a report from The Sun.
The family didn’t know their home had been targeted until the couple’s 17-year-old son Cruz returned from a night out, noticing broken glass and a ransacked bedroom. The Beckhams were “shaken up” by the incident, per The Sun. They reportedly lost thousands of pounds of their belongings.
“Sadly, the Beckhams were the victims of some fairly professional thieves who have been operating in the area,” a source told the outlet. “Fortunately, the criminals only made it as far as one bedroom before they ran off.”
Kim Kardashian
Kim Kardashian’s robbery at gunpoint during Paris Fashion Week in October 2016 was labeled a publicity stunt by many critics, but it turned out to be a sophisticated crime ring where 12 individuals were charged in the crime. They had planned the attack for over two years and Kardashian changed her entire life after this harrowing night.
She recalled five masked men bursting into her hotel room while she was sleeping. “He grabbed me and pulled me towards him. But I wasn’t wearing anything underneath [my bathrobe],” she told David Letterman on his Netflix series, My Next Guest Needs No Introduction. “So I was like, ‘OK, this is the time, I’m going to get raped. Just deal, like, it’s gonna happen.’ You know, like just prepare yourself.”
Kardashian was fortunately not physically harmed, but the mental trauma had long-lasting effects, including anxiety attacks and PTSD. Police said the robbers plotted the jewelry heist from researching her Snapchat account and examining the expensive pieces they wanted to steal.
She admitted to Ellen DeGeneres that the event changed her life for the better. “I know this sounds crazy, but I know that was meant to happen to me. I am such a different person,” she explained. “Things happen in your life to teach you things,” she said, before detailing that the robbery gave her an entirely new outlook on her lavish life.”
Sandra Bullock
Sandra Bullock recently recalled her 2014 home invasion on Red Table Talk, and how she is still filled with gratitude that her then-four-year-old son Louis was staying at the nanny’s house.
“It was the one night that our nanny goes, ‘Let me just take him to my apartment which is up the street because you’re gonna be out late,’” Bullock said. “Had he been home, I would’ve run to the closet, and it would have changed our destiny forever.”
Calling it a “violation,” she admitted, “I wasn’t the same after that. I was unraveling. I haven’t been alone since the day it happened.” Like Kim Kardashian, Bullock suffered from PTSD after the event and underwent therapy to help her heal. She, too, walked away with a lesson, “When I got out of it, I realized I have surrounded myself often with unsafe people and situations and put myself there,” Bullock explained. “I have no one else to blame but myself because that was the most familiar feeling I had.”
Dorit Kemsley
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Dorit Kemsley was home alone with her two children, son Jagger, 7, and daughter Phoenix, 5, when intruders broke into her Encino Hills, California mansion in October 2021.
“First of all, I was completely taken off guard,” Kemsley told Extra. “They were surprised to see me at home… When they did, they pushed me to the ground. They said, ‘Who else is in the home?’ ” One of the criminals kept saying, “Just kill her,” according to the reality star. She was just worried about her children, who were asleep in their bedrooms.
“I begged them, I begged for my life, and begged for their life,” she added. “I don’t care about any of it, take it all. You can have it all. Please, I’m a mother of babies. Please, they need me. Please don’t hurt me.”
Kemsley and her children were safe, but the criminals made off with over $1,000,000 of her property, according to NBC News. No arrests have been made so far.
Christine Quinn
Selling Sunset star Christine Quinn was the victim of an attempted home invasion in 2022. She was sleeping alongside husband Christian Richards, and their son, Christian Georges, when they were awakened by a noise outside.
Two armed intruders tried to get inside their estate, but were thwarted by the triple-pane glass on their Hollywood Hills home, according to TMZ. The security cameras caught images of the two men, who were trying to enter via a window only four feet from the couple’s bedroom.
Zoey Deutch
In 2022, actress Zoey Deutch returned to her LA home to find a door smashed in, where culprits reportedly entered before escaping with $300,000 in cash and jewelry.
Terrence Jenkins
Former BET host and actor Terrence Jenkins found himself the victim of a “follow-home” robbery in November 2021. As he and a friend pulled up to his Sherman Oaks, California home, his car was blocked in by an SUV with masked men, who ordered him at gunpoint out of his vehicle.
Jenkins refused to comply and drove off while the criminals shot at his car. He managed to spot a California Highway Patrol car nearby to report the incident. The star was uninjured and the occupants in his home were also safe. “People need to be aware of the surroundings, especially leaving nightclubs, restaurants and what have you,” said LAPD Sgt. Hector Olivera told Fox 11.
Tina Knowles
Beyoncé and Solange Knowles was the victim of a July 2023 robbery in which burglars made off with a safe containing over $1 million worth of cash, jewelry and other valuables, per Fox 11.
Thankfully, Tina Knowles was not home at the time.
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