“It was hard to ignore them so I just lied.”
Since the early days of MTV Cribs, fans have gotten an inside look at the homes of the rich and famous. Celebs go behind the scenes to show off their massive mansions, their incredible backyards and their fleet of luxurious cars. And while it’s fun to see how our favorite stars live, it turns out that these home tours might not be entirely accurate. Quite a few celebrities have later admitted to lying about parts of their tours — from small things like their book collections to faking their entire home!
Find out what was fake about these home tours…
1. Ashley Tisdale
When Ashley Tisdale gave a tour of her home for Architectural Digest, she decided to spruce things up before the camera crews came inside. One of those updates included completely filling up empty shelves with books that she had never read. During filming she admitted that her husband had gone out to buy hundreds of books just days earlier.
“These bookshelves, I have to be honest, did not actually have books in them a couple of days ago. I had my husband go to a bookstore, and I was like, ‘You need to get 400 books,’” she shared. “Obviously my husband’s like, ‘We should be collecting books over time and putting them in the shelves.’ And I was like, ‘No, no, no, no. Not when AD comes.’”
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2. Dakota Johnson
Fans fell in love with Dakota Johnson’s home when she gave a tour for Architectural Digest in 2020. While walking through, she pointed out a bowl of limes on the counter of her kitchen, sharing that she loved limes and loved displaying them. A year later, Dakota admitted that they were actually a prop placed in the kitchen by home stagers — and she was actually allergic!
“I actually didn’t even know they were in there. I was giving the tour and went into the kitchen, and it was set dressing. I’m actually allergic to limes…Limes make my tongue itch,” she revealed on The Tonight Show. “It was hard to ignore them so I just lied. I went the full opposite direction.”
3. Vanessa Hudgens
Vanessa Hudgens gave viewers an inside look at her Hollywood home in an Architectural Digest video. While in the living room, she showed off her grand piano and even played a little bit of Mozart. While she did say in the video that the piano “doesn’t get used much,” it turns out that she doesn’t know how to play at all!
“The piano came from my previous house, but I don’t play. I don’t read music, really. I’m great at faking it,” Vanessa shared in an Architectural Digest article.
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4. JoJo
When JoJo was still a teenager, she gave fans a tour of her vacation home on MTV Cribs. Years later, she revealed that she had never lived in the home at any point in time and it actually belonged to her uncle and his family.
“It was so ridiculous. The thing is, we didn’t have a home at that point. My mom and I were living out of suitcases and we were mostly in hotels. So that was actually my uncle’s house, on the Cape. That wasn’t my house. That wasn’t my stuff. When I was sitting on the spinny thing, that was his kids. That’s the truth,” she told HuffPost.
She continued, “I should’ve balled hard, and been like, ‘Welcome to my crib, look at how luxurious it is,’ and I should have rented out a place. But no. I just used my uncle’s crib. So that was me lying on Cribs.”
5. 50 Cent
When 50 Cent appeared on Cribs, he showed off his mansion as well as a collection of luxury cars. Years later, when he ended up in court, he testified that much of his over-the-top lifestyle was a front. In actuality, his diamond jewelry was borrowed and his fleet of cars were mostly rented.
“It’s entertainment,” he said during the trial, according to the New York Daily News. “Those cars were rented.”
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6. 3LW
Former girl group 3LW appeared on Cribs years ago but they didn’t actually own the house that they toured on the show. During the episode, they explained that they had bought a house together while working on their second album and were all living together. It wasn’t until 2021 that Naturi Naughton revealed that the house wasn’t theirs — and they didn’t even have their own cars.
“MTV did the Cribs and back when 3LW was hot. We had to pretend. But I didn’t have a car, I didn’t have a house, I didn’t have any of those things…But we did MTV Cribs,” on The Breakfast Club. “I had to clean the house by 7 o’clock to give it back to the owner. We had to clean up all of our stuff, we had to get a cleaning person.”
7. Robbie Williams
When Robbie Williams was in his early 20s, he appeared on Cribs for the first time, showing off an eight-bedroom manor house in England. He even had butlers working on the property. It turns out the house was actually being rented from Jane Seymour and the butlers were hired just for the shoot.
“We didn’t let [Jane] know that I was going to pretend it was my house. And because I was, like, 23 and full of spunk, I didn’t even consider other people’s thoughts or feelings, so I would like to take this opportunity to apologize to Jane Seymour,” he said during a radio station appearance.
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8. Ja Rule
When Ja Rule appeared on MTV Cribs, he gave a tour of a five bedroom mansion in Miami — where he threw a massive party. While he was up front that he was renting the place, it turns out that parties definitely weren’t allowed and the owner reportedly sued him for $1 million for trashing the place and causing structural damage.
9. Bow Wow
Back in 2008, Bow Wow’s episode of Cribs featured his fleet of luxury vehicles. While he showed them off as if they were his own, some eagle-eyed viewers noticed that the bottom of the cars were all branded with the word “prestige.” Upon further investigation, they discovered a company called Prestige Luxury Auto Rentals in Miami — leading many to believe that he had actually rented all of the cars.
