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The former home of late actor Gene Wilder, which now belongs to his filmmaker nephew, Jordan Walker-Pearlman, is under threat of foreclosure at the hands of tech entrepreneur Elon Musk.
Musk owned the home, located in LA’s Bel Air neighborhood, in 2020 and agreed to sell it to Walker-Pearlman and his wife, Elizabeth Hunter, for $7 million with the added assistance of a loan from Musk himself.
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Now, however, an entity tied to Musk has filed a notice of default on the home, which is the first step to foreclosure, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.
Walker-Pearlman, who spent a great deal of his childhood in the home, expressed gratitude to Musk as late as 2022 for his role in helping the couple obtain the home.
“He could have sold it for so much more,” Walker-Pearlman told The WSJ in 2022. “His sensitivity to me can’t be overstated.”
According to the default paperwork, Walker-Pearlman and Hunter are nearly $7 million behind on payments. Ninety days after filing a notice of default, the lender can force a sale of the property.
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In the meantime, the couple has put the home on the market for $12.95 million with Drew Meyers of Westside Estate Agency.
Walker-Pearlman has shown a willingness to work with Musk and does not seem bitter about the tight spot he’s in now.
“There’s no tragedy here,” he told The WSJ. “Elon gave us a magical opportunity. I have no complaints.”
He added that Musk has not been “adversarial or mean.”
Walker-Pearlman said that the writers’ and actors’ strikes that crippled the entertainment industry last year over the course of several months contributed to his financial challenges. He said that Hunter also did not like the idea of continuing to be in debt to Musk.
“She did not want to continue morally owing Elon anymore,” Walker-Pearlman told The WSJ. “We already owe him such a spiritual debt.”
When Walker-Pearlman was a child, he reportedly saw the stars come and go from his uncle’s house, where Wilder on Sundays would host get-togethers for script reading and music playing. Walker-Pearlman split his time growing up between Wilder’s home in LA and his grandmother’s home in Harlem.
“That was my home schooling,” Walker-Pearlman said of his time spent around Hollywood creatives at his uncle’s.
Wilder purchased the 1951-built home in 1976 for $300,000 after creating the hit Young Frankenstein. The actor lived in the home until 2007 when he sold it for $2.72 million.
The nearly 3,000-square-foot home has four bedrooms and four bathrooms and is located above the Bel Air Country Club. It features original wood-beamed ceilings, fireplaces and a circular bar area.
Musk purchased the home in 2013 for $6.75 million when it was located across the street from his then-primary residence. When Musk decided to sell in 2020, he opted to work with Walker-Pearlman and Hunter to help them buy the home, even though the initial asking price of $9.5 million was more than they could afford.
Walker-Pearlman seems to have made peace with the prospect of parting ways with the home.
“This is likely the closing of a very unicorn and beautiful chapter of our lives,” he told The WSJ. “I’m not disgruntled at all.”
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