♪ MTV ♪
[Female announcer] On this episode of Cribs,
we're chilling in Chappaqua, New York with...
Hey, MTV!
[Announcer] ...the iconic actor and singer Vanessa Williams
with a tour of her New York mansion
fit for a queen.
[Vanessa] Who doesn't need a pot roast?
Let's talk about a pot roast must always be at the ready.
Looks like someone's dove into it.
But it looks delicious! [chuckles]
[Announcer] But first...
Welcome back, MTV Cribs!
We have been waiting for you!
[Announcer] ...we cruise right over
to TV personality Adrienne Bailon
and singer-songwriter Israel Houghton's
lavish East Coast estate.
My favorite bathrooms in the house
is our entrance powder room
and, most importantly, black toilet paper.
Has MTV Cribs ever seen black toilet paper?
These are all good questions.
It's the toilet paper for me is a scarf.
♪ Yeah ♪
[theme music]
♪ Spin games so whack like blah, blah, blah ♪
♪ Be a big trick, so I leave him off ♪
♪ Actin' like a kid, I don't want him, oh god ♪
♪ He a bugaboo, oh lord (Oh lord) ♪
♪ So picky, choosy Eenie, meanie, miney, moe ♪
♪ I do my big one (Oh!) ♪
Welcome back, MTV Cribs.
We have been waiting for you
because the last time you saw us,
we were actually in our home in Los Angeles.
This is our little Beverly Hills bungalow here
that we officially call Villa Houghton.
But as a native New Yorker,
it gives me so much pride
to welcome you to Chateau Houghton, New York.
Welcome.
♪ What type of whip you want? A big one ♪
♪ What type of back you like? A big one ♪
♪ What type of bank you got? A big one ♪
[music]
We have been renovating this place for over two years,
and I can't wait to show you
why I fell in love with this place,
starting with--
♪ She a body ♪
--my office.
♪ Don't need you bossin' ♪
♪ 'Cause this girl is bossin' ♪
Because I am a businesswoman,
I get to have the office in the house,
with these amazing pocket doors that look like
this doesn't even exist...
-And then boom. -And then voila.
This just felt like it was giving
quiet luxury/old money.
I actually love that it had this dark wood in it
that felt a little bit more masculine,
but that the office was for the lady of the house.
♪ This girl be bossin' ♪
[Adrienne] You might be asking why there is a typewriter.
She gave me 11 envelopes the day of our wedding on the altar,
-and they were her vows. - [Adrienne] Yeah.
[Israel] And every one of them were typed on this by her.
As romantic as that sounds,
what he doesn't know is that every time I made a mistake,
I had to start all over again.
We used to keep Israel's six Grammys
on his Steinway piano,
but he felt like that was arrogant, a little cocky,
and so we moved them in here.
But I think it's bizarre that
they're just little peekaboo Grammys on the shelves.
I, unlike Israel-- I don't mind a brag, no.
Bam! That there is my Emmy Award.
I think people have no idea how heavy this is.
But I am very proud of almost 10 years on The Real
and being an Emmy Award-winning talk show host.
[singing in Spanish]
♪ Lookin' like the one and only ♪
Welcome to the piano room.
I can imagine our baby boy, Ever James,
coming home from school and, like,
sitting on this sofa,
watching TV, doing his homework right here.
-Olive green chairs that swivel. -I love these chairs.
Iz, you want to show them how the chairs work?
Up, up, up! And there we go.
If we're having a conversation over here,
you can do so many activities.
So many activities. Room for activities, yes.
[Adrienne] That's right.
♪ All my friends know the lowrider ♪
My favorite bathrooms in the house
is our entrance powder room.
It is the tiniest powder room,
and people thought we were absolutely insane
when we said we were gonna turn it all black.
And I think that's what makes it super sexy.
Black hardware, and we also have a black, sleek toilet.
And most importantly...
[twinkling]
...black toilet paper. I love it.
Has MTV Cribs ever seen black toilet paper?
[Israel] These are all good questions.
It's the toilet for me as a scarf.
♪ Let's go ♪
♪ Hey, let's go ♪
♪ All eyes on me when I pull up, let's go ♪
Welcome to Chateau Houghton's kitchen.
We completely gutted the kitchen.
We decided to do herringbone floors.
Let's see what kind of snacks we got up in here.
We have Snickers. We have Sour Patch Kids.
[Israel] Who's eating Reese's and Snickers in here?
I'm not eating Reese's and Snickers.
[Adrienne] Israel Houghton, stop lying.
That's no lie!
[cricket chirping]
[Adrienne] We actually planted a tree
with Ever's placenta.
It's an evergreen tree 'cause his name is Ever.
And I love that any time I'm doing the dishes
right out here,
I can see it right to the right.
It's very special.
Welcome to Healthy Houghton.
This is a built-in fridge.
When we want to do healthy snacking,
we're trying to do fruits, veggies, kombuchas, water.
And then this is really who we are people.
[Israel] That's a lot of cookie dough.
Listen, I bake you a lot of cookies.
Thank you for that.
[music]
You're welcome.
♪ Oh yeah ♪
[singing in Spanish]
This here is what would be called our butler pantry.
But we call this the chinch.
Puerto Rican slang, gossip is bochinche.
When we're having parties, festivities in this home,
we like to sneak away into the chinch and, you know,
have a little bochinche session.
Just assess how things are going.
I love to make coffee here.
The Miele--did I say that right?
I don't know.
We don't know how to pronounce
the expensive coffee machine we have,
and I don't know how to use these racks, okay?
The house is bougier than we are.
[Announcer] Coming up, we continue our tour
at the fabulous New York estate
of TV personality Adrienne Bailon
and singer-songwriter Israel Houghton.
Welcome to what we call the social club,
and then there's this hallway.
♪ Come on ♪
Yes, girl.
This is the longest runway of my life.
♪ Can't stop when we start We get it done ♪
♪ Take no days off We number one ♪
Welcome to what we call the social club.
So down here is kind of our hang spot.
So I almost wanted this foyer area,
when you come right down the steps,
to feel like you were in the waiting room of a spa.
And then there's this hallway.
♪ We gon' get it done ♪
♪ Can't stop, we startin' ♪
♪ We gon' get it done ♪
Yes, girl.
♪ We gon', we gon' get it done ♪
This is the longest runway of my life.
Boom! Leading right into our second kitchen.
[music]
♪ 20,000 bucks and all my dreams ♪
This was actually designed by Israel's daughter Mariah.
And she really wanted to do something
that felt really cool, really sleek.
The other parts of our social club
are definitely more dark and moody.
And this felt like a breath of fresh air.
And then this is, like, my favorite.
When you look at the plates, they actually say
"Chateau Houghton".
[Israel] Love.
[Adrienne] This is our little family theater room.
Super dark, movie vibe.
Andrew Houghton came through, Israel's brother, and Mariah.
They actually designed this couch,
that we wanted something that went wall to wall
that was super deep.
You guys know I'm short, so here it goes.
This is my whole body, fits.
Right up here is our primary suite.
♪ Baby, touch me ♪
♪ Don't leave me solo ♪
♪ Right now, baila conmigo ♪
The bedroom just felt huge when we checked it out,
and I was like, what are we gonna do
to fill up all this space?
Let's get a ginormous bed.
How many feet is this, babe?
Nine feet.
[Adrienne] Let's have a sitting area.
And then one of the other things I knew I wanted
was, like, a vanity area.
We actually had these beautiful curtains put in.
You know, we roll out of bed and we're just like,
at the click of a button, and...voila.
-[Israel chuckles] -Good morning, New York.
♪ Let's get a little bit bold ♪
♪ A little bit bold ♪
This is honestly the bathroom of my dreams.
♪ A little bit bold ♪
[Adrienne] We finally landed on this bold marble
-that I'm obsessed with. -Love it.
I love the idea of having a huge tree.
It is a living tree.
And if I'm being completely honest with you,
this is actually our third one
because I've already killed the first two.
So in here, we've got room for activities in here too!
Yeah, we do aerobics in here.
-[laughs] -Whooo!
I can dance in here.
One, two, ready, and, break it down, break it down.
♪ Made me sweat ♪
♪ Made me hunger ♪
♪ Made me lose my breath ♪
♪ Made me water ♪
Next door to our primary suite is Ever James' nursery.
I wanted to have a nursery that didn't feel,
like, very babyish.
I still want it to have some swag,
definitely a cool, chic vibe to it.
Obviously he's taken a ride on this amazing llama.
He loves his ginormous llama.
This is Ever's first photo. That is my embryo.
-We've come a long way. -[Israel] Baby.
Right there.
♪ Shawty's like a melody in my head ♪
♪ That I can't keep [indistinct] ♪
♪ I be singin' like (Hey) ♪
♪ Nah, nah, nah, nah every day ♪
♪ It's like my iPod stuck on replay ♪
Well, look who just woke up from his nap.
Ever James, you wanna say bye?
We sayin' bye early.
Say, they gotta go home!
They don't have to go home,
but they gotta get out of here.
Thank you, MTV Cribs!
Thank you, MTV!
-Bye! -Bye, now!
-Mwah! -Mwah!
[speaking Spanish]
Mwah!
[music slows to stop]
[Israel] Nope. [laughs]
[Ever whines]
♪ Replay (Replay) ♪
[Announcer] Coming up, we do some Pilates
with actor and singer Vanessa Williams
at her upstate New York abode.
We were just in the middle of stretching.
Bring your left arm up and over your head, reach.
I'm gonna stretch you out here, a little bit forward.
-[grunts] -Perfect.
-I'm done! -[laughs] Careful.
That's it. All right, done?
-You're all done. -Done for the day.
♪ Not gonna play nice, not gonna play weak ♪
♪ I'm a girl who got her needs ♪
♪ Not gonna stop until I get that money ♪
♪ Yeah ♪
♪ You better think twice, you better say please ♪
♪ Better get down on your knees ♪
Hey, MTV. It is Vanessa Williams.
And you caught me in the middle of a Pilates session.
So come on and step into my crib.
[music]
♪ Till I get that money ♪
♪ Till I get that money, ah ♪
♪ Till I get that money ♪
Hey, Mom.
This is my daughter, Melanie.
She is the Pilates queen.
And we were just in the middle of stretching.
So, where are we?
[Melanie] Your left foot in here.
Okay.
Bring your left arm up and over your head.
Reach and lengthen.
Just gonna stretch you out here,
move a little bit forward.
-[grunts] -Perfect.
And now I want you to rotate your chest towards the floor.
-I'm done! -[laughs] Careful.
That's it. All right, done?
-You're all done. -Done for the day.
Well, that's Melanie Hervey, and that's her Pilates.
But, uh, I need to change.
♪ Can't do it, do it like me ♪
♪ No, you can't do it ♪
And I'm back.
So, let me tell you about my crib.
These stones are the original stone wall
to the exterior of a cottage
that was here, built in 1906.
[creepy music]
[Vanessa] And this house is probably haunted.
1906, it's gotta be.
[creaking]
These stones on the other side
are from the carriage house where the horses were.
So what we have done is connected
the carriage house and the cottage
with all of the structure,
and that's where the magic begins.
♪ I'm a million-dollar baby and a billion-dollar [ding] ♪
This was the stables, this was the carriage house,
that we're standing on.
The piano room, or the grand room.
I've got electric guitars
and basses that my daughter, Sasha, plays,
and my other daughter, who goes by the name of Lion Babe,
is a talented musician.
Does really well in the dance market.
And my son comes to the piano as soon as he comes in.
And of course, everyone has to have a set of...
congas by their piano.
Why not?
These are from Brazil.
They're just amazing.
[clanking]
And very noisy!
♪ You got me spinnin' in your atmosphere ♪
♪ It feels so good, I wanna stay right here ♪
So here is the dining room.
There's so many memories in here.
It's intimate, but it's also very grand.
One of my favorite pieces here is a Messer piece
done in 2002, when I was the witch in Into the Woods.
I played a very scary witch.
And probably the most impressive piece in the dining room
is this massive table,
which is all solid wood.
It's heavy as hell, never goes out of style.
My dad used to sit here. I don't have him anymore,
but he used to be at the head of the table here.
I miss him so much.
A lot of memories, and...
just love it in here.
♪ It's gonna be good, it's gonna be fine ♪
♪ It's gonna be all right (All right) ♪
Here's the kitchen.
I like it because people can work in here.
It's cozy enough to work
and big enough that you're not on top of each other.
I've got one, two, three, four ovens,
because Thanksgiving you've got a turkey in one,
mac and cheese in the other.
You've got your yams.
You've got pies and cakes.
And here is my subzero.
♪ My temperature's gone to subzero ♪
[Vanessa] Of course, one must always have
champagne always chilled, always available
for any guests that happen to come in.
I do love making fresh buttermilk pancakes
with blueberries.
And who doesn't need a pot roast?
Let's talk about a pot roast must always be at the ready.
Someone's dove into it.
[ Mm-hmm! ]
[Vanessa] But it looks delicious!
[chuckles]
[Announcer] Coming up, we continue our tour
with actor and singing legend Vanessa Williams
at her fabulous New York mansion.
These are some of my gowns.
These are some that I've worn on television,
on stage, in concerts.
I'm gonna give you a show no matter what I wear.
♪ Ooh, ladies first, ladies first ♪
This is my office, and this is where the magic happens.
♪ Ooh, ladies first, ladies first ♪
This is kind of a amalgamation of
awards that I've gotten through the years.
Our gold and platinum record wall.
♪ You get the drift, it's ladies first ♪
Here's some vintage memorabilia.
This is my original Corn Flakes box
when I was Miss America 1983.
Yes, I was on the face of the Corn Flakes box.
We've got my presidential wall.
These are the presidents I've met over the years.
For those who don't know what a cassette is,
these are cassettes!
I've got, you know, original demos.
Back in 1986, I worked with George Clinton.
So he said, "You know what?
"Wouldn't it be great to get Prince
to write a demo for you?"
And he gave me a cassette.
I cannot find that cassette!
And, uh, God bless Prince.
♪ Legendary ♪
♪ L-L-Legendary ♪
[Vanessa] This is a little bit of a gown holding room.
These are some of my gowns.
These are some that I've worn on television,
in Ugly Betty,
Queen of the Universe, that I was a judge,
on stage, in concerts.
I'm gonna give you a show no matter what I wear.
[music]
Now, this is a special place.
It's kind of a reading nook.
But you can also look up into this round skylight
and see what the stars are doing at night
and what the clouds are doing during the day.
♪ Comfort zone ♪
It's one of the favorite places.
♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh ♪
♪ I'm insatiable I'm insatiable ♪
This is my master bath.
This also is kind of a greenhouse-ish solarium in here.
I love it because I've been able to
incorporate more antiques.
[dog barks] [music slows to stop]
I think we've got two visitors.
Not visitors, they live here.
Hold on.
Hello.
Come on in.
[dog barks]
♪ You can bring your friends ♪
So this is Gilly and Rosco.
Yes, go sit down.
Sit, sit, sit, sit.
Good girl.
And they sleep on my bed every night.
[barks]
Okay, all right, we're done.
You guys can go outside.
Okay, go.
♪ Bring your friends ♪
That's as good as I could get them.
Let's go outside.
Come on.
♪ Sweet like honey ♪
This is where the summer fun lives.
Barbecue area over there.
Of course, dining, lots of lounging in the sun.
The pool.
So this is the lawn where my dear friend America Ferrera,
who played Ugly Betty, got married.
♪ You're sweet like honey ♪
Let's go see my new blue tennis and basketball court.
We were lucky enough to have our first tennis lesson
by Katrina Adams, who happens to be
the first Black female president of the USTA.
Not too shabby.
Here it is.
I told you it's brand spankin' new blue!
Pretty snazzy.
And speaking of snazzy, my mom lives next door.
♪ That's how we get down ♪
Hi, Mom!
Bye, Mom.
Let's go see the rest of the property.
♪ That is how we get down ♪
One of my favorite possessions
is my blue Maserati...
that I bought black in 2008.
I can remember the day that it was delivered.
My heart was beating like crazy.
I'm never letting it go, so this is going to my grave with me.
♪ Hey ladies, yeah ♪
♪ Ah, ah, ah ♪
♪ Hey ladies, yeah ♪
♪ Ah, ah, ah, ah ♪
♪ Hey ladies, yeah ♪
You know what I forgot?
I didn't get the mail.
So how I normally get the mail is with this golf cart.
It looks like there's no room for you guys,
so it's been swell.
Thank you for joining me on MTV Cribs.
Take care!
And I am ready to go and do some--[grunts]--
real chores.
Bye!
♪ And the lady is mine ♪
[Announcer] Next time on Cribs--
Hey there, MTV!
[Announcer] --actor, producer, and director Vivica A. Fox
graces MTV with her presence
at her fabulous home in Southern California.
[Vivica] I have got to introduce you guys
to my fabulous little kitty here.
She guards my crib for me,
so if I don't like you, you gonna get your ass kicked out.
[laughs]
[Announcer] Then, Olympic skier and actor Gus Kenworthy
shows off his lush and sexy Los Angeles villa.
This is a stripper pole.
Uh, it's actually structural.
I tried to take it out, but I couldn't.
And so it stayed.
[Announcer] Then, AEW professional wrestlers,
husband and wife Miro and CJ Perry,
invite MTV inside their chic Hollywood digs.
CJ got some frozen cupcakes.
Oh, no! You're gonna crash!
Oh my god!
This is exactly what I needed.
[Miro] Is it still good?
[music]