Brazilian Private Island Visited By Tom Cruise & Jackie Kennedy Listed For $100m

If there’s anybody who could take a pig-shaped island and transform it into a perfectly curved paradise it’s the pioneering plastic surgeon Dr Ivo Pitanguy (1923-2016). Worshipped by reality stars everywhere as the man who pioneered the Brazilian butt lift, Pitanguy’s world famous Clinica Ivo Pitanguy in Rio de Janeiro was once the go-to spot for A-listers looking for an upgrade. 

Renowned for his acclaimed skincare line Beauty By Clinica Ivo Pitanguy, Pitanguy soon became a household name amongst the New York and Hollywood elite. By the time he founded his clinic in 1963, Jackie Kennedy Onassis, Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Sinatra, Brigitte Bardot and former French president François Mitterrand were rumoured to be among his clients.

But Pitanguy’s celebrity circle spread far and wide. Even those he wasn’t (proved to be) injecting were attracted to his private island home, with Tom Cruise, Michael Caine, Katie Holmes, Jimmy Carter, Queen Farah of Iran, socialite Zsá Zsá Gabor, and Ivana Trump all featured in the guest book (Pitanguy claimed he was merely teaching Ivana to samba). 

Located just 100 miles southwest off the coast of Rio de Janeiro, Pitanguy Island is the most expensive private isle in all of South America, and the most expensive private island to come to the market in recent years. Spanning an impressive 75 acres, this is the kind of tropical paradise that seems to only exist on-screen: three private beaches, blue waters, natural freshwater springs and aquariums, tropical gardens and forest trails abound. Situated in a marine area of outstanding natural beauty, this Bay of Kings home is the thing of dreams. 

As for how you get there – the private 400m airstrip, helipad and marina pier offer a plethora of ways to make your Bond-worthy entrance. Once in, hunker down and shake a martini in the James Bond-esque lair. Drawing on the glass walled modernist interiors of Francisvo Scaramanga’s private island lair in The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), it was said that Roger Moore’s visits to the Pitanguy’s paradise inspired its futuristic feel. Blending Brazilian modernism with a contemporary attitude, the interiors offer up modernist white facades, sleek curved walls, full height windows, and open plan interiors throughout.

Before Pitanguy’s purchase, the uninhabited stretch of wilderness was known as IIha dos Porcos Grande – Big Pig’s Island – named for its boar-like silhouette. Pitanguy bought the island from an undisclosed seller in 1973, telling W Magazine: ‘She called to me like a siren.’ But if there was one thing Pitanguy was passionate about in life, it was turning the ugly, beautiful. With the island beyond the capabilities of his knife and needles, he employed Brazilian architect Paulo Coelho to reshape the terrain – nipping and tucking it in all the right places.

Today, the island boasts 14,975 sqft of built-up space – spread across the six modernist-style bungalows, nine suites, a pool and tennis court. Once remodelled, Pitanguy Island served as a private inner sanctum for Ivo and his family, with visits to the isle reserved for family, close friends and VIP patients who required exceptional privacy and security for their consultations and post-procedure recovery. 

Though Pitanguy is perhaps best-remembered for innovative breast surgery technique – the spot where nipples are repositioned to universally referred to as ‘the point of Pitanguy’ – the doctor didn’t constrain himself to celeb work. Dr Ivo Pitanguy founded a teaching programme on plastic surgery at Pontifical Catholic University and opened a charity wing at Santa Casa Hospital that performs free reconstructive surgeries on impoverished patients who suffer from birth defects or tragic accidents. It was these contributions to public life that earnt him to right to partake in the Olympic torch in the 2016 Summer Olympics, his final achievement the day before he died. 

For all the action stars who visited the island, Pitanguy’s son, Bernardo Pitanguy told The Times it was his father who was ‘the real James Bond’ – ‘He shaped the island according to the many dimensions of his character. He was a diver, a tennis player, a skier, a surgeon of extraordinary ability, and above all a man of culture.’ Describing the curvaceous architecture throughout the paradise, he added: ‘The island is my father’s sculpture. It’s the biggest sculpture on Earth. The sculpture is [made up of] the birds that sing there. It is the coconut trees that move in one side and then suddenly to the other side of the wind. It is the harmony between nature and the soul.’

On the market for $100m (£76m). Find out more at beauchampestates.com