The Truth About Amal Clooney's Marriage To George Clooney
George Clooney has accomplished quite a bit over the course of his life. He's won an Oscar, tackled humanitarian issues, and even owns his own alcohol business. Yet, there's one thing that no one thought he would ever do. "If you know anything about my crazy life, you know that I'd pretty much committed to the idea of never marrying again," the actor told Vogue. However, his opinion on the subject completely changed after he met a woman named Amal Alamuddin.
Ever since the two said "I do," they've both done a lot of things they never thought they would. Not only did neither one ever think they would get married, but these two never even fathomed the idea of having their own family until a few years into their marriage. Today, the man who once was the entertainment industry's most eligible bachelor has settled down with his wife and is home raising two children. "There is no question that having Amal in my life changed everything for me," the actor told CBS Sunday Morning.
This is the truth about Amal Clooney's marriage to George Clooney.
Amal met George Clooney's parents the same day she met him
You usually don't meet your significant other's parents until things are serious. For the Clooneys, however, this meeting happened a lot sooner.
While George Clooney was spending some time at his vacation home in Italy in 2013, a friend of his asked to stop by with someone on their way to the Cannes Film Festival. Of course, the actor agreed, and his friend walked in along with a woman named Amal. "I thought she was beautiful, and I thought she was funny and obviously smart," George told The Hollywood Reporter, and he immediately felt himself falling for her.
Little did the actor know at the time that the entire Clooney clan was meeting the woman he would soon marry. "The funniest thing is my mom and dad are visiting, so my parents are there," he laughed on "My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman." "And we just talked, and we stayed up all night talking." And they haven't stopped talking since.
Before the two began dating, George Clooney would write Amal emails from his dog
Though these two hit it off as soon as they met, Amal and George Clooney didn't start dating until long after that. Instead, the two emailed back and forth for a few months before ever seeing each other again. Though the actor was interested in something much more with Amal, he "didn't know if she wanted to go out with [him]." "I just thought we were buddies," he admitted on "My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman." Secretly, she was interested in him too, and she even shared with Vogue that the actor would send her emails from the perspective of his cocker spaniel Einstein in hopes she would come visit the pup. (Do we really expect anything else from a successful storyteller?)
After many, many emails, the two finally got together in person a few months later. Funnily enough, though they live together now, they still make time to write to one another. "I'll write a letter and slip it on her desk, or she'll write a letter and leave it under the pillow," the actor said during an interview with AARP. "I'm a big believer in letters."
George and Amal Clooney's first date was at a recording studio
Of all the places they could have gone on a first date, Amal and George Clooney chose a recording studio.
While the actor was working in London in 2013, Amal had mentioned that she was in the city, too. Even though George was busy scoring his movie "The Monuments Men," he decided to invite her over to his "office" for the day. "We were scoring at Abbey Road," he later explained on "The Howard Stern Show." "And I thought, 'If you're ever going to impress anybody, it's with a 150-piece orchestra at Abbey Road.'" Looking back, he achieved his goal: Amal was obviously impressed.
The two continued their first date at a fancy restaurant in London that evening, "and when we came out, there were 50 paparazzi there," the actor told The Hollywood Reporter. Though their relationship wasn't yet official, everybody in the world seemed to know about their romance. Over the next six weeks, the two continued to spend time together hiding out at Amal's apartment in London. "We were together from that moment on," George told Howard Stern.
Amal's father didn't want her to date George Clooney
Many people may think that dating a movie star wouldn't be so bad. However, Amal's father was less than impressed when she went into a relationship with George Clooney. "The funniest part was that she gets a letter from her father going, 'I'm going to give you 10 reasons why this is a terrible idea to date this guy,'" the actor revealed on "The Howard Stern Show." While the couple has never shared any other specifics from this list, we can only assume that being chased by the paparazzi was one of them.
Luckily, George eventually did win over the hearts of her family — and even gained the approval of her father. When asked by AFP how he felt about their nuptials, the proud papa said that "the wedding was more than perfect," Yahoo! News reported. A source even told Us Weekly that in his speech at the wedding, he expressed how much he was looking forward to having grandchildren!
It took Amal nearly half an hour to respond to George Clooney's proposal
After six months of dating, George Clooney knew Amal was the one. Because of that, he had a very important question to ask her in 2014. As he waited for her to return home from a trip to London, he cooked dinner, pulled up a special playlist of music, and hid a 7-carat ring. When the moment finally came, he asked her to open the box, and "I got down on my knee," he explained on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show." Like nearly every person who's been proposed to, Amal was stunned. In fact, she was so stunned that she took nearly half an hour to answer him. "There's a playlist, so we know how long it actually took, and it's like 25 minutes," the actor said.
In her defense, the two had never discussed the idea of ever getting married prior to that night. While it took Amal some time to soak in what was happening in that moment, George patiently waited for her to answer. After a few minutes of being down on one knee, he began to realize that he needed her answer a little faster than he had thought. "'Cause I'm 52 and I could throw out my hip pretty soon if I don't get an answer," he joked. "And then she said, 'Oh, yes.'"
Amal and George Clooney tied the knot in Italy
On September 27, 2014, Amal and George Clooney tied the knot in Italy — the same country in which they had met a year prior. "We knew that was where we wanted to get married," the actor told People. Their ceremony, which took place along the Venice Canals, was relatively small for a celebrity couple, capped at 100 guests. Their family, of course, was in attendance, along with some famous friends like Matt Damon, Bono, Emily Blunt, and John Krasinski.
The wedding details were a bit more extravagant. Both Amal and George were decked out in designer wear, and the couple even sent each of their guests home with iPods as party favors. As lavish as their special day was, the most important part for these two now was getting to spend forever together. "I didn't know how un-full [my life] was until I met Amal," George told GQ. "And then everything changed."
Amal and George Clooney are 17 years apart in age
When George Clooney first laid eyes on Amal, he was immediately taken aback by her beauty. However, he's still not sure what she thought of him when they met. "She probably thought I was old," he admitted to The Hollywood Reporter. After all, the two are 17 years apart in age.
Though George has been linked to many high-profile actresses over the course of his career, it wasn't until he was 52 years old that he met the woman with whom he would finally settle down. Even though Amal is quite a bit younger than the actor, she was unsure herself that she would ever marry because of her own age. "I was 35 when I met him," she told Vogue. "It wasn't obvious that it was going to happen for me."
While they may have met later in their lives than they would have liked, it was obviously at the right time. Meeting at the exact moment that they did taught them an important lesson, too. "We really are aware of time and how precious it is," George told People. "And how lucky we are to be together."
Amal watched ER after marrying George Clooney
Everybody knows George Clooney from the iconic television series "ER." The show is what helped his career take off and even made him a heartthrob to many women around the world. Ironically, Amal had never even seen the series until after she married him.
It wasn't until the cast reunion rolled around in 2021 that Amal made time to sit down and watch the series. As exciting as it may have been to have his wife binge-watching his breakout role, it actually broke her heart to see her husband in character. "This has been a very, very disastrous thing for me," the actor said during the virtual cast reunion. "Because I forgot all of the terrible things I did as Dr. Ross."
As Amal has continued to watch the show, it's brought up a lot of other important questions, too. "My wife keeps going, 'Is that it? Are you done? It's Season 3. Do you finally settle down with Nurse Hathaway?'" George said. In the end, the only important part is that he settled down with Amal!
There are certain countries that Amal and George Clooney will not visit
For a couple that includes an Academy Award-winning actor and an international human rights lawyer, worldwide travel is basically in Amal and George Clooney's job descriptions. Over the course of their careers, they've traveled all over the world. Heck, the two even met in Italy. However, things changed completely when they found out they would soon be parents.
When the two announced the big news that they were expecting twins in 2017, they canceled many of their travel plans. "We decided to be much more responsible, to avoid the danger," George told Paris Match Magazine, per Condé Nast Traveler. "I won't go to South Sudan anymore or the Congo; Amal will no longer go to Iraq, and she'll avoid places where she knows she isn't welcome."
After welcoming their little ones into the world, the Clooneys realized their biggest responsibility was making sure their family of four was always safe, so you still won't see the Clooneys visiting certain countries. "Before, I did not care," George said, but everything changed when they became parents. Now, the only places they'll spend time with their children are the homes they own in England, the U.S., and Italy.
George Clooney likes to play pranks on Amal
It turns out, George Clooney is quite a trickster — and his pranks don't stop when it comes to his partner. Perhaps his proudest achievement is the fact that his love of pranks is rubbing off on his twins, Alexander and Ella. "I really do enjoy teaching my children to do things that shock their mother," George teased in an interview on "Today."
The actor's favorite trick to pull on Amal can be a bit stomach-turning to strangers who happen to see. "I did work with them on putting Nutella in a diaper and then eating it," he admitted to People, and his kids get quite a laugh out of it, too. It seems as though he's passing down the family legacy of becoming a prankster. "But other than that, George is definitely a gentleman," Amal said during a speech at the American Film Institute.
Amal and George Clooney have no plans to expand their family any further
Amal and George Clooney never discussed having children until a few years into their marriage. They eventually decided they'd love to have a baby — so you can imagine their surprise when, in 2017, they found out they would be having twins instead. "All of a sudden, it's like two," the actor described on CBS Sunday Morning. "And I literally — it's hard to get me to not talk, and I just stood there for ten minutes staring at the piece of paper." In retrospect, the Clooneys shouldn't have been as shocked as they were, considering twins run in Amal's family.
Over the years, there have been reports that the Clooneys are planning to expand their family further. However, these rumors are certainly not true. These two admitted during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that they won't be having any more children. "I already had them quite late," Amal said.
Amal and George Clooney created their own foundation
Watching Amal tackle major issues as an international human rights lawyer has always been inspiring to George Clooney. Many times, he's even used his celebrity status to shine a spotlight into his wife's world. In 2016, the two of them created their own organization to help fight for human rights called the Clooney Foundation for Justice — which quickly gained attention around the globe. "I think it's wonderful that celebrities would choose to spend their time or energy or the spotlight that they have to raise awareness about these causes," Amal told "Today." "I don't really see myself in the way because I'm still doing the same job that I used to do before."
Their work is focused specifically in northeastern Africa, which has become an extremely dangerous area amidst the conflict there. Their foundation has made its mission to advocate for the people in the area and help bring an end to the violence that surrounds these African families on a daily basis — all in order to make the world a better place. "I hope that would be my wife's and my legacy to our children," George told People.
George Clooney is the cook in their relationship
Amal Clooney is an extremely accomplished woman. "I'm telling you, she can do anything," George Clooney even told CBS Sunday Morning. Despite his confidence in her, there's one thing he admits that she, unfortunately, can't do — cook. "If she walks near a pan in the kitchen, the whole place would fall apart," her husband said.
It turns out, no one in Amal's family has any expertise when it comes to conquering the kitchen. As a result, Amal has never really learned how to make a home-cooked meal. Instead, her husband is the one who's always there to make them a delicious dinner for date night — just like the one he made the night he proposed to her. With that being said, there is one thing Amal is great at making when they're both hungry: "My wife makes reservations for dinner," the actor laughed.
Amal has had to adjust to life in the spotlight since marrying George Clooney
Getting married completely changes a person's life — but marrying one of the world's biggest movie stars changed Amal Clooney's life in many more ways. Being a public figure is "a little like being in a parade, and it's not easy — particularly for her," George Clooney admitted to The Hollywood Reporter. "Because, in general, we live a very private life." Or, at least, they try to, anyway.
Even when the Clooneys were just beginning to get to know one another, they were always swarmed by paparazzi. The couple hid their relationship for months, and it makes sense why. "You want to get to know each other and spend time with each other and not do it on the front of Hello! Magazine," the actor said on "The Howard Stern Show."
Getting used to her privacy being invaded has not been easy for Amal. She can't even walk down the street to visit her brother without being swarmed by people with cameras. Yet, there's just something about George that makes it all worth it. As Amal said during a speech at the American Film Institute, "I would never want to be with anyone else."