Brad Pitt Surprises His Makeup Artist With Guest House Makeover in "Celebrity IOU"
One of the best feelings in the world is when you're able to give back to a friend who has always had your back. That's the premise behind the Property Brothers' new feel-good show, Celebrity IOU, in which Drew and Jonathan Scott help big-name celebrities surprise important people in their life with special renovation projects. During premiere episode on Monday night, actor Brad Pitt tapped the Property Brothers to help him transform a garage for his dear friend Jean Black in Los Angeles.
Black, a makeup artist, has worked with a large number of celebrities including Pitt, Joel and Ethan Cohen, Julia Roberts, and Josh Brolin. Pitt has known Black for almost 30 years, estimating that they've worked on "40-something" films. Their relationship goes beyond the film set, though. The actor refers to her as family and even occasionally crashes on her couch when he's on the West Coast. That is to say, they're quite close—Black even had to apply makeup to Pitt's butt during the filming of Legends of the Fall in 1994 to cover some "bad tan lines," Pitt reveals.
The episode focuses on a 400-square-foot unit in Black's backyard that had, up until now, served as storage for the makeup artist— all that occupies the space are a few shelves filled with plastic storage totes and a couple folding chairs. For the past 10 years, Black has been telling Pitt that she wanted to turn it into a guest suite, but she never got the opportunity. Pitt wanted to finally give that to her—and it couldn't be just any type of guest suite. He notes that it has to offer extensive storage elements, a makeup station (as Black has never had one), and a bathroom. "I'm going to ask for the impossible," he says to the Scotts, adding a kitchen area to the design plan. The men have exactly three weeks to complete the project in time for Black's return from a work trip.
While the Property Brothers take the lead on the design, Pitt assists. To maximize the space, they choose a Murphy bed from Resource Furniture. The fold-up bed pulls right down from the wall and directly over the sofa. While the wall contains a shelf, the bed pulls down so smoothly that nothing has to be moved off of it. They also deck out the guest suite with a secret door bookshelf—once you push on the book, the shelf opens like a door and leads into a walk-in storage closet. Inside the closet, where Black’s makeup equipment can live, the Brothers include a special portrait of her late parents. They also add a patio area outside.
Treating this like a tiny house project, the Brothers were really able to amplify this small space. "It was such a s h*t box, this is amazing. It’s fantastic," Pitt says, marveling at the final result. “I’ve been waiting so long to see something happen to this dump."
At the end of the episode, we finally got to meet Black, as the three men surprise her. " I’m really just so flabbergasted," she says. "I know Brad’s generosity, it’s huge,” she continues. “But for him to do this, it’s really more than I ever thought could happen. I am so touched by this, I could really not thank you enough."
Catch Celebrity IOU on HGTV on Mondays at 9 pm. Other celebrities to be featured this season include Melissa McCarthy, Viola Davis, Rebel Wilson, and Michael Bublé. "It's amazing to me to see someone who's amazingly successful, grounded enough to remember the people who helped them get there," Jonathan says about the show.
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