Pierce Brosnan spent decades building a dream life on the Malibu coast. Now he says it may finally be time to leave it behind.
The 73-year-old actor and his wife, Keely Shaye Smith, are considering selling the oceanfront estate they have owned since 2000. Brosnan pointed to repeated wildfire threats, anxiety about earthquakes, the property’s upkeep and changes in the life they once built around Malibu while explaining why the home no longer feels quite the same.
“We’ve been spared by the fires a few times now. But I think it’s time to move,” Brosnan said in a Sept. 11 interview with The Times, as reported by PEOPLE. He also described living beside the ocean in an earthquake-prone region as something that “creates a fear.”
If Brosnan and Smith follow through, it would close a chapter that includes raising sons Dylan and Paris on the property, spending roughly a decade creating their Thai-inspired Orchid House and previously trying to sell the compound for $100 million. These days, their smaller home on Kauai increasingly represents another version of the life they want.
Wildfires and Earthquake Fears Changed How Brosnan Sees Malibu
Brosnan still speaks affectionately about Malibu, but the environmental risks attached to living on the Southern California coast have become harder for him to ignore. In the new interview, he said the couple have escaped fires threatening the area more than once and acknowledged the anxiety of living beside the Pacific in a region defined by seismic activity.
The dangers are only part of what has changed. Brosnan described himself and Smith as “somewhat reclusive” and said the social circle that once surrounded them has gradually thinned as friends divorced, died or moved elsewhere. The long distance into the city has become another factor after more than a quarter-century on Broad Beach.
He also spoke unusually openly about the money required to sustain the lifestyle. Brosnan recalled periods when mortgage payments, school fees and the need to keep the household running made another acting job financially important, even when the project itself was not necessarily one he would otherwise have chosen.
The Property Has Already Survived a $1 Million Fire
Heavy smoke & fire last night from the garage of @PierceBrosnan‘s Malibu home. No injuries. Damage to garage/bedroom. pic.twitter.com/MeOYg3vsCx
— Kenny Holmes (@KHOLMESlive) February 12, 2015
The estate has experienced a major fire before, although that incident was separate from the regional wildfire threat Brosnan is discussing now.
In February 2015, a fire broke out in the garage while Brosnan, Smith and their sons were at home. Fire officials said smoke detectors alerted the residents, and everyone escaped without injury.
Flames spread from the garage toward a bedroom above it before crews brought the fire under control. The Los Angeles Times reported that approximately 50 firefighters responded and that damage was estimated at more than $1 million.
Orchid House Took About a Decade to Create
He and Smith assembled the property in 2000 by purchasing two neighboring Broad Beach parcels for a combined $7.35 million, according to records cited by the Los Angeles Times. They initially lived in the existing home before replacing it and spending roughly a decade creating the estate with architects Ralph and Ross Anderson.
The design was heavily influenced by the couple’s time in Thailand while Brosnan was filming the 1997 James Bond movie Tomorrow Never Dies. Smith said they became enamored with the country’s architecture, which later appeared throughout the Malibu property in its green clay-tile roof, carved teak details, tropical landscaping and indoor-outdoor design.
Architectural Digest reported that the main residence and guesthouse encompass approximately 12,500 square feet, with five bedrooms, 14 bathrooms and seven fireplaces. The property also includes roughly 117 feet of beach frontage.
Its amenities read more like a resort than an ordinary family home: a screening room, music and recording space, gym, art studio, wine storage, spa with multiple hot-and-cold facilities and an outdoor saltwater pool overlooking the ocean.
They Already Tried to Sell It for $100 Million
Brosnan and Smith have considered leaving Orchid House before. In September 2020, they placed the estate on the market for $100 million, making it one of the most expensive publicly listed homes in Los Angeles County at the time. The property did not sell, and the listing was eventually withdrawn.
They had also experimented with renting the home. The Los Angeles Times reported that it had been offered at $120,000 per month in 2004. In 2012, the newspaper reported that Orchid House returned to the rental market for $250,000 per month, accompanied by a $750,000 security deposit.
Kauai Was Already Becoming Home Years Ago
The Brosnans have spent increasing amounts of time on Kauai for years, and their shift away from Malibu was already evident when Orchid House first went on the market in 2020.
“I love Malibu,” Brosnan said at the time. “It has my heart.” But he added that home was “very much here in the islands,” according to reporting from his original Wall Street Journal interview.
Six years later, the contrast between the two properties is even more pronounced. Brosnan told The Times that he and Smith have a small three-bedroom cottage at the end of the road on Kauai rather than another sprawling resort-style compound.
The Hawaiian property also reflects how he now spends his time away from film sets. Brosnan said the couple keep chickens there, while he has a yurt where he paints.