Hollywood icon Brad Pitt once let a 105-year-old neighbor live rent-free on his $40 million estate

Brad Pitt's vast Los Angeles residence once had one more resident than the actor had planned. Cassandra Peterson shared that Pitt's roughly $40 million estate had a centenarian briefly living on it, and that too, rent-free. In an exclusive conversation with PEOPLE, Peterson discussed an adorable story about how the actor unexpectedly acquired an elderly tenant. The situation was the result of Pitt slowly expanding the footprint of the estate. "I think there were like 22 houses that were contiguous to the edge of the property. And every time they came up he bought one," the actress explained.

One of the properties belonged to an old man in his early nineties, so Pitt struck a bargain that permitted him to stay on in their home. "He was very, very kind to the husband. His wife passed away and the husband, John, lived there," explained Peterson. "I know that Brad allowed him to live there without paying anything until he died."

The arrangement went on a bit longer than it might have, she notes, "It was kind of funny because John lived to be 105. The actress joked that John "just kept living forever," adding, "I imagine Brad was thinking well, you know, he can live there till he dies, which might be any minute now."

Peterson, who became Pitt's neighbor after selling him her home, recalled her own interactions with the actor over the years, characterizing him as "always kind and sweet." On one occasion, she came upon his preparation for his 1999 film Fight Club. While walking her dogs down the street, she recalls, "I go past Brad's garage and he's in there wearing only sweatpants. He's got on boxing gloves and he is punching a bag. I swear I almost fainted."

She then shared that he was very nice to her, adding, "I remember he goes, 'Hey, how are you?' and I'm like, 'Huh?' I couldn't talk. I was turning red. I felt like I was fainting," she continues. "He's just so stunningly, stunningly handsome — and nice, to top it off."

Pitt bought the 1.9-acre property from Elvira, Mistress of the Dark star Cassandra Peterson in 1994 for a reported $1.7 million and kept it for over 30 years before selling it for around $40 million in March, per PEOPLE. The house, which was recently sold off-market, was where Pitt and his ex-wife Angelina Jolie, 47, reared their six children: Maddox, 21, Pax, 19, Zahara, 18, Shiloh, 16, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 14, who are now 14 and 19. The couple divorced in 2016.