Picture the quintessentially glamourous Hollywood couple, and, chances are,
they'll look an awful lot like George and Amal Clooney. Well, it turns out that
the story of how these two lovebirds got together is just as charming as they are!
George Clooney met his wife Amal Clooney — nee Alamuddin — in 2013 when he was already
52 years old. At the time, he was one of Hollywood's most famous bachelors. In fact,
the actor has been pretty vocal about having no interest in settling down.
"No, I'm never gonna get married again because, um… because I wasn't very good at it."
However, shortly after proclaiming himself a life-long bachelor, George was set up
with a British lawyer by a friend while he was staying in Como, Italy, according to Daily Mail.
"It was the wildest thing. A mutual friend of ours said,
'I'm stopping by and can I bring my friend?' And I was like, 'Of course.'"
Apparently, George then got a call from his agent, who had also met Amal,
and he told him they would one day be married. Turned out his intuition was right on the money!
After their magical meeting in Italy, George and Amal Clooney went their separate ways — but not
before exchanging email addresses. The pair began exchanging emails in the fall of 2013,,
but George wasn't sure where their relationship was going. He confessed:
"We started writing and I didn't really — I didn't
know if she wanted to go out with me. I just thought, you know, we were buddies."
As George explained to The Hollywood Reporter, he was worried that Amal thought
he was too old for her. Nevertheless, the pair kept in touch. The recalled:
"We were writing each other, emailing, talking, mostly about what was going on
in each other's lives, and over a period of time it became clear we were more than just friends."
Winter 2013: The pair spent time in London and Cabo San Lucas
Following a successful first date — during which George invited Amal to the famous Abbey
Road Studios, followed by dinner — the couple spent the next six weeks dating in London.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, George claimed that things escalated from there.
In fact, as Amal told Vogue, they saw each other every single day which,
in her own words, "felt like the most natural thing in the world."
As Amal went on to explain, like George,
she had practically given up on the idea of getting married. She admitted to Vogue:
"I was 35 when I met him. It wasn't obvious that it was going to happen for me."
However, during their six weeks in London,
she began to realize that she may have found the person she had been waiting for.
After six weeks in London, the pair spent Christmas in Cabo San Lucas. Then,
a few months later, George realized that he wanted to marry Amal on a trip to Kenya.
As soon as George Clooney decided that he wanted to marry Amal, he began planning the
perfect proposal — unfortunately, things didn't exactly go to plan.
"It was a disaster."
"Really?"
"Yeah! I planned it out, I'm not stupid, I planned the whole thing out."
In April 2014, George planned to make Amal dinner and then pop the question during
a particularly romantic song — specifically, "Why Shouldn't I?," sung by his aunt Rosemary.
When the song came on, George asked Amal to grab something from a drawer behind
her — instead, inside the drawer, she found the ring. Unfortunately,
Amal didn't realize the ring had been planted for her. He explained:
"She looks at it and she's like, 'There's a ring in there.' And I'm like on my knee, like..."
After all of the confusion, Amal didn't accept the proposal until, as George recalled, quote, "this
horrible song called, 'Goody Goody'" came on. Not exactly the romantic proposal he had in mind!
George and Amal Clooney married in a quiet ceremony in a hotel in Venice on September 27,
2014. Guests included Matt Damon, Anna Wintour, Cindy Crawford,
Bill Murray, Bono, and Emily Blunt. As one source from the hotel told Us Weekly:
"Staff were preparing bouquets, table arrangements and other floral designs well into the night.
Everything they were using was white with green flourishes, lots of roses and peonies being used."
Amal wore a gorgeous off-the-shoulder Oscar de la Renta lace gown. As Amal told Vogue:
"George and I wanted a wedding that was romantic and elegant,
and I can't imagine anyone more able than Oscar to capture this mood in a dress."
After their wedding in Italy, the couple returned to their newly purchased home
in Sonning Eye where they bought a small island in the Thames near London. As Amal
recalled to Vogue, they spent their time camping out on the unfurnished property.
In January 2015, George and Amal Clooney made their red carpet debut at the Golden Globes,
where George received a lifetime achievement award. In his acceptance speech, he said:
“Amal, whatever alchemy it is that brought us together,
I couldn't be more proud to be your husband."
George even wore his wedding tux at the event, while Amal wore a stunning
one-shoulder black gown. Amal made quite the impression at the event,
with Marie Claire even dedicating a whole article to her classy look on the red carpet.
A few months later, George opened up to People about how things were going
for the newlyweds. As the actor explained, the marriage had been
nothing short of life-changing for him and his outlook on life. He admitted:
"All I know is that it sort of changed everything
in terms of what I thought my future — my personal future — was going to be."
As he explained, it had made him more optimistic than ever about his future.
In late 2016, the happy couple bought a new property in the midtown area of
New York City. According to Page Six, their new permanent residence was in
the brand new luxury apartment building One Hundred East Fifty-Third Street. A
source explained that the building was close to the United Nations, where Amal often worked,
and close to Columbia Law School, where she was teaching. According to The New York Times,
Amal had already become a popular New York City celebrity in 2015 after being spotted by the
paparazzi looking flawless and impressing locals with her intelligence and diligence in her work.
According to Luxatic, their new apartment building featured its own restaurant,
a swimming pool, a library, a fitness center,
and a concierge. Rumor has it their apartment cost $14.75 million, according to Elle.
In 2017, George and Amal Clooney brought twins
into the world. A statement regarding their birth read:
"This morning Amal and George welcomed Ella and Alexander Clooney into their lives. Ella,
Alexander and Amal are all healthy,
happy and doing fine. George is sedated and should recover in a few days."
For George, becoming a father to twins was nothing short of terrifying. When he
found out that twins were on the way, he said to Drew Barrymore:
"It was such a disaster. I was like,
are you kidding me? Now it's the greatest thing in the world. I was terrified then."
Since becoming parents, the couple has tried to find time to spend as a family,
despite their busy schedules. In 2018, Amal told Vogue:
"Between six and eight in the morning we get
to have them in our bed — I don't schedule any calls before eight."
In fact, as George got older, he and Amal began to re-evaluate their future plans — especially
now that they were parents.When his twins were four, George told People:
"We're going to spend time with our kids and we're gonna travel again. We have a house with
a lake and a rope swing. I can still do the rope swing at 60, I'm not sure about 80."
During the COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020 and 2021, many couples found themselves bickering and
fighting more than normal — the same cannot be said for George and Amal Clooney. In fact,
this seemingly perfect couple only got stronger the more time they spent cooped up together.
One way the couple stayed close during lockdown
was to write each other love letters. The actor told AARP:
"Even in lockdown, I'll write a letter and slip it on her desk,
or she'll write a letter and leave it under the pillow. I'm a big believer in letters."
George also spoke to Howard Stern about his lockdown experience. He explained:
"The lockdown has been funny because I've been back doing the things I used
to do a long time ago, which is do seven loads of wash in the day and
I'm mopping the floor and I'm mopping the house."
George even called himself "Mr. Mom," saying:
"It's literally like my mother in 1964."
As of 2023, George and Amal Clooney seem to be as strong as ever after almost a decade of marriage.
How do they do it? Well, according to George, it's all down to their maturity. He told E! News:
"When you're 61, which apparently I am... As you get older, you're kind
of looking at things a little differently. Because I started [my marriage] so late,
I'm not allowed to give advice to anyone. I have to look at
it as if I'm the luckiest human being alive and then just appreciate that."
As an older husband and father, George is a lot easier going than he might have been as a young
man. He knows how to, quote, "find all the things that we have in common and not worry about the
little things," as he put it. What exactly are these "little things?" Well, according to him:
"Amal wants to paint the wall yellow. And if I was younger, I feel like that's a stupid
color. And now you just go, 'I don't care. Who cares if a wall's yellow?'"