All celebrities, or anyone under the constant scrutiny of the public eye, have their own ways of managing their lives and relationships. While many celebrity-parent relationships face their share of challenges, some actors seem to know what works for them in the parenting department. Actor George Clooney recently spoke about his decision to raise his children away from Hollywood, in fact, far from the United States altogether.
While talking to Esquire, the actor reflected on living in France with his kids and said, “Yeah, we’re very lucky. You know, we live on a farm in France. A good portion of my life growing up was on a farm, and as a kid I hated the whole idea of it. But now, for them, it’s like they’re not on their iPads, you know? They have dinner with grown-ups and have to take their dishes in. They have a much better life.”
George Clooney shared that he never felt comfortable raising his children in Los Angeles. “I was worried about raising our kids in L.A., in the culture of Hollywood. I felt like they were never going to get a fair shake at life. France — they kind of don’t give a shit about fame. I don’t want them to be walking around worried about paparazzi. I don’t want them being compared to somebody else’s famous kids,” said the Ocean’s Eleven actor.
Clooney first got married to actor Talia Balsam in 1989, and the two went their separate ways in 1993. He got married again in 2014 to Amal Clooney. She gave birth to twins in 2017, Alexander and Ella.
George Clooney is currently focusing on the release of his latest film, Jay Kelly, in which he is starring alongside Adam Sandler, Emily Mortimer, Laura Dern, Louis Partridge, and Billy Crudup. The character he is playing seems to be dangerously close to himself, as he is playing an actor in his 60s who gets called out for only being able to play himself in films. Commenting on the character and whether the same applies to him, Clooney told Vanity Fair, “Do people say that I only play myself? I don’t give a sh**. There aren’t that many guys in my age group that are allowed to do both broad comedies like O Brother [Where Art Thou?] and then do Michael Clayton or Syriana. So if that means I’m playing myself all the time, I don’t give a sh**. Have you ever tried playing yourself? It’s hard to do.”
