If two lifelong best friends turned downtown celebrities cannot make a go of shared homeownership, what hope do the rest of us have? Actress, model, and memoirist Julia Fox and model, photographer, and director Richie Shazam have officially settled up on the 19th-century neo-Grec brownstone in Harlem that they purchased together back in 2023. According to property records that were made public on Wednesday, Fox bought her fellow multihyphenate out of their four-story, seven-bedroom home late this past July, paying $345,000 for Shazam’s share of the property.
Fox, who is best known for her breakout role in the film Uncut Gems, and Shazam first met at a party as teenagers and have been fixtures of lower Manhattan nightlife and creative circles ever since. According to a joint interview the pair conducted with Harper’s Bazaar in 2024, they had long discussed the concept of shared homeownership—a financial arrangement that has increasingly found its way onto people’s radars as housing prices continue to soar out of reach for many individual buyers. Though co-purchasing property with a friend is becoming an increasingly popular strategy for navigating competitive real estate markets, it remains a high-stakes endeavor. As one real-estate attorney remarked to Curbed earlier this year, entering into such an arrangement is “both a great idea and a terrible idea.”
Despite their deeply rooted identities as downtown New York creatures, Fox and Shazam eventually cast their net northward and settled on an 1888 brownstone situated on West 123rd Street within the Mount Morris Park Historic District. The residence offered a compelling blend of historic charm and contemporary luxury. While it featured plenty of original wooden architectural details, exposed brick walls, and multiple wood-burning fireplaces, it had also been extensively renovated with modern high-end finishes. Among its standout features was an expansive galley kitchen boasting a ten-foot-long custom volcanic-soapstone countertop and a royal-blue La Cornue Château range, alongside a striking copper bathtub and a steam shower. The layout also appeared remarkably well-suited for joint ownership, as it could be straightforwardly divided into a pair of distinct duplexes. Furthermore, the property included a private backyard where Fox’s young son, Valentino, could safely play outdoors.
The property carried an asking price of $2.9 million, a figure that Fox admitted to Harper’s Bazaar was “very over” the friends’ initial budget, though it ultimately proved insufficient to deter them from pursuing the purchase. Recalling her mindset at the time, Fox told the magazine, “I was just like, ‘No. I want it. I need it. I have to have it.’” That fierce determination may have been influenced by her previous living situation. In early 2023, Fox had shared a “maximum transparency” apartment tour on TikTok showcasing her converted two-bedroom Manhattan home, where she was visibly piling up shoeboxes in her kitchen—noting it was “very common for New Yorkers”—and dealing with a mouse problem that she claimed to be entirely unbothered by.
With their hearts set on the Harlem townhouse, Fox and Shazam put down a substantial $900,000 down payment and moved in alongside Valentino, Shazam’s boyfriend (director Ben Draghi), and the ashes of a few late friends. Before long, the historic brownstone became a bustling hub with a constant stream of creatives and acquaintances coming in and out. Despite its prominent stoop, however, the house was not the location of Fox’s viral eBay-branded “stoop sale” that took place earlier this year.
Neither Fox nor Shazam responded to inquiries regarding their decision to dissolve their joint ownership arrangement after such a relatively brief period. However, as real estate professionals frequently point out, partnerships of this nature often face unexpected pressure as individual lives evolve, relationships change, career opportunities shift, and the unpredictable nature of daily life unfolds. As a real estate attorney noted earlier this year, joint ownership ventures “sometimes don’t last nearly as long as you think they’re going to.”
Following the buyout, public deed transfers indicate that Shazam has transitioned to a modest two-bedroom rental located in a three-story building in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. As for Fox, her decision to buy out her longtime friend and remain in the Harlem property aligns with sentiments she previously shared with Harper’s Bazaar. Despite her celebrity status and reputation for high-profile public appearances, Fox expressed a deep appreciation for the quiet anonymity that comes with living in northern Manhattan, noting of the neighborhood, “No one gives a fuck about me up here. It’s amazing.”
