Tetiaroa, one of the Society Islands, is an atoll located 59 km (36.5 miles) due north of Papeete, the capital of French Polynesia located on the island of Tahiti.

In 1789, three deserters from the H.M.S. Bounty, some of the former crew in the infamous Mutiny on The Bounty, became the first Europeans to visit the island during the ship's 23-week stay in Tahiti. In 1904, the Royal Pomare Family of Tahiti gave the island to dentist Johnston Walter Williams.

As a private island, it passed through the hands of other owners until 1965, when Marlon Brando, after filming Mutiny on the Bounty, bought it outright from Williams' daughter. Brando lived on the island on and off until 1990.

In 1980, famous maxi yacht S/Y Condor of Bermuda ran aground on the Onetahi reef; and was caused to be shipwrecked and written off by insurers. Allegedly, Brando, and the owner of the yacht, engaged in a brief bidding war for right's to the vessel's polished mahogany hull, which Brando is reportedly to have desired for use as a bar on a potential resort to be built on the island. The yacht was salvaged, and sent to New Zealand for repair.

At various times Brando talked of plans to develop a resort on the island, but the enormous costs involved made it financially impossible for him to carry through on his ideas. In June 2003, a year before his death, Brando granted his friend Michael Jackson "in consideration of gratitude and affection", the lifelong use of 2000 m² (a half-acre) on the islet of Onetahi, in the west of Tetiaroa. While earlier revisions of Brando's will had included provisions putting the island into a trust, his will as it existed in 2004 included no specific provision for the island. In 2005, the executors of the Brando estate sold development rights for $2 million to Richard Bailey, a property developer based in Tahiti. A new luxury resort is currently being built on the atoll. The planned per night price for accommodations is rumored to be $1500. Air Moorea put a claim on the island saying it is owed $460,000 for the service it provided in bringing people to and from the island. At the moment, the atoll's "airport" is closed for violating safety regulations; the airstrip is not currently long enough.

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