Hollywood: What Drought?

Leah Barkoukis | May 11, 2015 4:09 PM

From gun control to climate change and now to water usage, the breathtaking hypocrisy of Hollywood celebrities knows no bounds. As you are well aware, California is experiencing its worst drought in history. It’s so bad Gov. Jerry Brown ordered the state’s first water restrictions last month, forcing cities and towns across The Golden State to cut water usage by 25 percent (thanks to years of mismanagement, but that’s another story.)

The mandate has forced state residents to make all sorts of changes to their lifestyle—from taking shorter showers to shutting down their pools, and of course, letting their lawns turn brown. But apparently rules don’t apply to the state’s rich and famous.

California is currently in the fourth year of its worst drought in history, but the rich and famous residents of Los Angeles are still keeping up with the Kardashians when it comes to their over-the-top landscaping.

Residents across California have been demolishing pools, cutting back on showers and letting their lawns turn brown after experts estimated that there will be less than a year's worth of drinking water left in the state's reservoirs by the end of 2015.

But for the residents of Los Angeles' wealthy enclaves, a $100 fine for wasting water is chump change and a fee they are apparently glad to pay in order to maintain their almost fluorescent green lawns.

PhotographerJohn Chapplerecently went out in a helicopter to photograph these private oasis and found the mega-mansions owned by Kanye West and Kim Kardashian, Jennifer Lopez and heiress Petra Stunt to be among the worst.

'The Kardashian flowers and hedges are right in our face,' a neighbor of West and Kardashian in Hidden Hills told theNew York Post. 'It’s disgusting. You walk by and you can smell the freshness.'

The reality star previously claimed that she was washing her hair only every five days in response to the drought, a move she called 'a little excessive, maybe'.