George Clooney has been uncommonly open about his wife Amal Clooney and their two children, twins Alexander and Ella, at Venice Film Festival this week.
He even confessed the real reason he gave up directing Hollywood films was to focus on his family.
George Clooney couldn’t stop gushing about his wife Amal Clooney and their two children this week. Getty
The usually private star, 65, shared a rare insight into his approach to fatherhood during a press conference on Wednesday (local time).
“The only reason I’m not directing, which I love doing, is because I have two nine-year-old kids,” he said.
Clooney explained that unlike acting in a movie, where he only has to be on set for his scenes, directing requires him to be on-site and away from his kids for up to a year at a time.
That’s just not a sacrifice he’s willing to make anymore.
The star of the Oceans franchise was also caught on camera reminiscing on his wedding day with Amal.
“I have had a love story with Venice for 30 years and, in fact, was married here,” he told the crowd of journalists when asked about his best moments in the city.
“So I would say that my greatest moment here was obviously my wedding, because I would get in a lot of trouble if I don’t say that.”
Clooney turned the conversation to Amal again when asked how he planned to spend his down-time after his Festival obligations that day.
“We’re going to go find a fun place to have dinner, my wife and I. She’s going to be wearing a very nice dress so we’ll have to be careful where we go,” he quipped.
The Hollywood Icon admitted he’s stepped away from directing to focus on family. Getty Images
The ER star continued to mention wife Amal and their children throughout the press conference, even between hard-hitting topics like climate change, the state of the US, and AI in the film industry.
In a masterclass on Thursday (local time), he shared rare insights into the humanitarian work he does with Amal, who is herself a humanitarian lawyer.
“My dad used to say to me, ‘I don’t give a s–t what you do in life. I don’t care. You have one responsibility, and that is to challenge people with more power than you and to defend people with less power than you,’” Clooney said.
“Now I try to do that. I fail often, but I try to do that. I’ve made it part of my life, and so Amal, my wife, and I spend a good portion of our lives trying to follow those same rules.”
“I got successful at 33, not at 23,” Clooney said. He felt lucky for it. Corbis via Getty Images
He also touched on his childhood in Kentucky, learning from his TV anchor mother, the perks of finding fame later in life, and the death of his sister from cancer last year.
“She died very quickly, and I was with her when she died,” he said.
“And there was this feeling, being with her, holding her hand when she died, understanding how brief all of this is. It was minutes ago that she and I were little kids together, minutes ago we were holding hands as little kids.”
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