La La Anthony Opens Up Her Glamorous NYC Home — with a Basketball Hoop in the Living Room!
Growing up in Flatbush, Brooklyn, La La Anthony saw Manhattan as a different world. “You didn’t really know people who lived in the city,” the Power star recalls. “It always felt like it was for the big-time folks, for when you finally made it.”
Now after two decades of building her career—from landing a gig as a radio DJ at 15 and an MTV VJ in 2001, to her new role in the BH90210 reboot—Anthony, 36, and her son Kiyan, 12, call the island home. They share an airy and sophisticated apartment that’s filled with the markers of her success, and the things that keep her humble.
In their light-filled living room office area, next to a trophy she took home for out-rapping the Spice Girls’ Mel B on Drop the Mic, are her NAACP Image Award, a poster from the Broadway play Eclipsed (which she co-executive produced), and framed letters from Michelle Obama, whom she calls, “one of my mentors and a friend.”
Though she did hire a decorator to spruce up the three-bedroom, three-bath place with a “cool, young, modern” vibe, Anthony says she prioritizes comfort over flash.
“I’m not about living a museum and not being able to touch things,” she tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue. “I care more about it being a family home than an elegant home.”
“I want my son to have fun here,” she adds. “There’s a reason why there’s a basketball hoop in the living room!” (La La, who’s separated from NBA star husband Carmelo Anthony, does have strict rules regarding when the nationally ranked middle-schooler is allowed to shoot baskets indoors.)
Kiyan also has a custom Xbox decorated with his dad’s likeness and the phrase “Stay Melo” and framed collection of every jersey he’s worn since middle school. “By now there’s a couple more,” La La says. “It’s super cool.”
The actress’s favorite place in the 2,300-square-foot loft? It’s a toss up between her closet (converted from a third bedroom) and her serene bedroom.
The former takes up “half of my apartment, easily,” she jokes of the rack-filled room. It holds special pieces from throughout her career, including the first pair of high-end heels she bought herself, her Power character’s favorite Versace top, and a sparkly ’70s-style jumpsuit she wore to friend Dwyane Wade’s Disco-themed retirement party from the NBA.
Her cream and pale pink-hued bedroom is is “super chill” and filled with candles — “I have 500 million,” she jokes — and a favorite decorating trick: preserved roses. “Where else are you gonna find flowers that you can keep in your room for a year, which is why I probably have so many of them.”
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Despite her big-city zip code, Anthony “just wanted something that felt like a home,” she says. “That’s how I felt when I first came in here. It fits for my life and for our family.”
