TEEN MOM How did Andrew Glennon’s parents get rich? Plus Malibu house details!
Andrew Glennon, the ex of Teen Mom OG star Amber Portwood, is back in the headlines this month after a recent episode of Teen Mom: The Next Chapter featured Amber’s return to the house Andrew and their son James lived in for the past couple years.
In the startling scene, Amber and her former fiance Gary Shirley were shocked to find the house smelled like urine, with stains and random items everywhere. “I feel really sick to my stomach,” Amber told Gary after walking through.
“Nobody should live like that,” Gary replied. “Not any child.”
Thankfully, Amber and Andrew’s son James doesn’t have to live like that any more because he is now living in Andrew Glennon’s grandmother’s house in Malibu, California. In case you missed it, Andrew was granted permission to move to California with James earlier this year as part of the couple’s ongoing custody battle in the wake of Amber’s domestic violence arrest in July of 2019.
Andrew Glennon’s Grandmother’s House Details
Andrew’s father, James Glennon, passed away in 2006. Andrew Glennon’s mother, Charmaine Witus, is now the owner of the family’s Malibu home. Here’s how The Sun described the “$5 million Malibu mansion:”
Charmaine’s estate sits on over three-acres of property, and her home features five bedrooms, five bathrooms, and a swimming pool, which can be seen in aerial photos, according to listings.
Here are a few satellite/aerial photos of Andrew Glennon’s mother’s house and property, which is located on the Pacific Coast Highway and is less than 500 feet from the Pacific Ocean:
The official property records indicate that the house was originally built in 1956. The current records indicate that there is a single one-family house located on the property that is 2,078 square feet with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. However, the original plans indicate there was a house as well as a separate garage. It appears from the satellite photos that the garage has been connected to the house, and I am guessing it has also been converted to living space. That would help explain the discrepancy in square footage.
The official property records also indicate that the property consists of 128,100 square feet of land, which equates to just under 3 acres. That is A LOT of prime real estate!
The Sun reports that court testimony indicated Andrew’s sister and her fiance are currently living in a guest house on the property. There does appear to be some sort of structure in the corner of the property, but it sure doesn’t appear to be a house, going by Google Street View images.
You can also tell from the photos above that the Malibu property includes a large swimming pool. It also appears that there are areas for animals, although it’s unclear what those animals are. Regardless, it certainly seems like an amazing place for a young boy!
It’s interesting to note that the most recent tax appraisal on the property from 2022 valued it at $617,342. However, multiple real estate websites estimate the property to be worth more than $5 million. Perhaps the appraisal of the home is only allowed to increase a certain amount each year, and since the house has been in the Glennon family since the late 1970s, they are benefitting from decades of home ownership?
There is currently a property for sale on the same road as the Glennon estate and less than 1,500 feet away. It is WAY fancier and larger at 6,220 square feet of living space, but the lot is substantially smaller at just .66 acres. The listing price for that property is $7,495,000.
How Does Andrew Glennon’s Family Have So Much Money?
We did a profile on Andrew Glennon when the news first broke that he was dating Amber back in August of 2017. Andrew was part of the production crew on Marriage Boot Camp, and that’s how he and Amber first met. As it turns out, Andrew is the third generation of Glennon men doing production work — and his dad and grandfather were MAJOR players in Hollywood!
Andrew’s dad is EMMY Award winning cinematographer James Glennon, whose resume includes HBO’s visually stunning series Deadwood and the film About Schmidt. Here’s a photo of James Glennon with his EMMY:
Andrew’s grandfather, Bert Glennon, was an even more successful Hollywood cinematographer who worked with some of the most well respected directors in the history of film. “Becoming a director of photography in 1916,” reads Bert’s IMDB bio, “Glennon became one of the industry’s most respected craftsmen and worked often for such perfectionist directors as John Ford and Cecil B. DeMille.”
I remember my astonishment when finding out that Andrew was the grandson of a cinematographer who worked with John Ford! I don’t know if there are any directors I hold in higher regard than John Ford in terms of cinematography. I’m still amazed!
Back to Andrew’s dad, though. Check out his fascinating mini bio from IMDB, which sounds like a potential Hollywood script in the making. Oh, and particular attention to the fact that Andrew’s grandmother was a Hollywood mover and shaker as well!
American cinematographer and something of a Renaissance man. The son of famed cinematographer Bert Glennon, James Glennon and his brothers learned photography at their father’s feet. (Their mother was script supervisor Mary Coleman.) James Glennon began work in the Warner Bros. mail room, where he often was assigned to make deliveries to studio head Jack L. Warner because the other mail clerks were afraid of Warner.
Warner advised Glennon to buy a motion picture camera and rent it out, offering his own services for free. Glennon did so, and thus initiated his career as a cinematographer with Jaws of Death (1977). He continued to work as a camera operator on other cinematographers’ films, including The Conversation (1974), Ordinary People (1980), and Altered States (1980), before coming to notice as cinematographer on the groundbreaking El Norte (1983). He worked steadily thereafter. He filmed My Wicked, Wicked Ways: The Legend of Errol Flynn (1985), the story of the actor his own father had photographed in four films. He partnered with director Alexander Payne on three films: Citizen Ruth (1996), Election (1999), and About Schmidt (2002). He won an Emmy Award in 2005 for an episode of Deadwood (2004), the Western series for which he was principal cinematographer for its entire run.
He had widely varied interests. He served repeatedly as a judge in the Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. He operated Malibu Water Resources, a water aeration program, and he farmed clams in the Pacific Northwest. He was extraordinarily beloved of his crews and casts for his eternal optimism and unstinting praise and encouragement. He died unexpectedly on October 19, 2006, from a blood clot resulting from surgery for prostate cancer.
It’s assumed that Andrew will not allow MTV cameras to film at his mother’s Malibu house. However, given the appalling footage of the apparent living conditions at Amber’s Indiana house after Andrew and James left, Andrew may want to film in Malibu just to show that he is providing adequate living arrangements for James. Stay tuned!
Asa Hawks is a writer and editor for Starcasm. You can contact Asa via Twitter, Facebook, or email at starcasmtips(at)yahoo.com
