These 10 famous celebrity collections range from epic to strange
Stars, they’re just as weird as the rest of us
Recently, a special collection from fashion icon Gaston-Louis Vuitton was brought to the public's attention. Gaston was the grandchild of Louis Vuitton and ran the acclaimed luxury brand for 50 years, and during his lifetime he also collected hundreds of objects, which are captured in a new book, out this month.
Among Vuitton's collection were things like 19th century carpet bags, hundreds of trunks (big and small), perfume bottles, walking canes, vintage handsaws and 800 tsubas (a hand guard found on a Japanese sword), among other items.
Vuitton isn't the only notable name to fancy collecting, in fact, many A-listers are all about accumulating special possessions. Some collections are more "normal" than others (dead bugs are normal to collect, right?) while others may seem odd, but if the owner is happy then who are we to judge.
Here are some of our favourite collections and the stars that own them.
Anna Faris & Chris Pratt – bugs & insects
Anna Faris gushed about how she had found her match in ex husband Chris Pratt, partially because he shared the same love of collecting dead bugs. In an interview with James Corden, Faris said she'd "started to cry" after he invited her over to show off his collection. Another dead bug-fanatic is model Claudia Schiffer who's specifically interested in dead spiders.
Quentin Tarantino – vintage board games
As you might have discerned from his films, Tarantino is big on pop culture and movie history and his home is proof of that. Rolling Stone called is "a kitschy pop-culture Valhalla". When movie lunch boxes got too expensive, he switched to board games that are based on television shows and movies, and collects by categories like The Dukes of Hazzard and Dawn of the Dead, both of which are in his stash.
Demi Moore – vintage dolls
No it's not just your mother who loves figurines and dolls, Demi Moore does too. She's collected 3000 vintage dolls. In 2009 then husband Ashton Kutcher told Conan, "I think the dolls have souls…they're always looking at you. We have some in the bedroom and that makes things just weird." It's rumoured Moore even has a separate house where she keeps them.
Tom Hanks - typewriters
Though not that widely used anymore, typewriters are still special, especially for Tom Hanks. "I have almost 200 old portable manual typewriters," he told Live with Regis and Kelly in 2011. "Most of them are actually working and I keep them rotating." In 2014 he took his love for the machine to the digital sphere and created the app, The Hanx Writer, which simulates the typewriter. Fellow celebrity Chris Hardwick even sent Hanks a 1934 Smith Corona just so he'd appear on Hardwick's Nerdist podcast. You can listen to them chat about that here. Hanks was also featured in the recent documentary, California Typewriter, which focuses on, you guessed it, people who love typewriters. In the film, Hanks states his collection has now spanned to over 250 machines and "90 per cent of them are in perfect working order."
Penelope Cruz – coat hangers
It's been reported that the actress has over 500 coat hangers. No word if she actually hangs clothes on them or not, and we're assuming they're in a special room hidden from humanity.
Rod Stewart - trains
The British rocker is serious when it comes to collecting trains—he even builds parts himself.
Nearly the entire third floor at his Los Angeles residence is dedicated to his model train set. "Every three years Model Railroader magazine puts me on their cover, which is better than Rolling Stone," Stewart said in an interview. In addition to trains, Stewart believes he has one of the largest collections of Pre-Raphaelite paintings in the world.
Johnny Depp – Barbies & Jack Kerouac memorabilia
Depp has a fondness for limited edition Barbie dolls and he'd "play Barbies" with his daughter Lily-Rose Depp, oftentimes testing out characters like Captain Jack and Willy Wonka.
Depp is also a big fan of On the Road author and "beat generation" pioneer, Jack Kerouac. The 54-year-old's collection includestwo of Kerouac's jackets, a raincoat, framed letters, a suitcase, his last typewriter and a book featuring some of Kerouac's random writings. "It's a piece of history," he told to Rolling Stone back in the early '90s.
Kiefer Sutherland - guitars
Before he was starring in The Lost Boys or as counterterrorism agent Jack Bauer, Kiefer Sutherland collected guitars, particularly Gibson guitars. He says this obsession dates back to his childhood in Toronto. "I would go to Steve's Guitar Store when the other kids were out playing, and I'd stare at all these Explorers, SGs, Les Pauls, Strats and Teles. They looked so beautiful to me."
Jay Leno – cars & motorcycles
If you've caught an episode of Jay Leno's Garage, you already know of Leno's over-the-top fascination with cars and restoring them. He's also a fanatic about motorcycles. According to Business Insider, his collection includes over 150 cars and motorcycles. Have a look at some of them for yourself here.
John Travolta – planes
The actor has a collection of five planes plus his own airport (with runways) at his house. Travolta, a certified private pilot, even donated his vintage Boeing 707 plane, previously owned by Frank Sinatra, to the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society in New South Wales, Australia.