George Clooney Knew Amal Would Change His Life Forever

(Image credit: Robert Kamau)

published 16 November 2021

It's hard to think of a couple more well suited and more aspirational than George and Amal Clooney—and these two sure like to prove it to us.

When they met, George Clooney was very content as the world's most famous bachelor. "Listen, I didn't want to get married," he said in a recent interview with podcast host Marc Maron (via People). "I didn't want to have kids. And then this extraordinary human being walked into my life and I just fell madly in love. Then I knew from the minute I met her that everything was going to be different."

Then the question of kids came up, and George found that he wasn't so opposed to the idea after all. "So we've been married for about a year and we were at a friend's house, and they had a kid there which was loud and obnoxious and I was like, 'Holy s**t,'" he explained. "We went outside for a walk. And she'd never thought about it, really. And so then she said, 'We are awfully lucky in life.' And I said, 'Yeah, we are lucky we found each other.' She said, 'Seems like that luck should be shared with some other folks.'"

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The actor continued, "And then I just said, 'Well, I mean, if you're in' and she said, 'I think we should try.' I have to say it was very emotional because I really was convinced that wasn't my lot in life and was comfortable with that."

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Soon after, twins Ella and Alexander came into the world, and these days the ex-bachelor is a doting dad of two. Speaking on the podcast, he explained that there was just one point on which he wasn't willing to compromise when raising his kids.

"I'm really aware of a couple of things, which is I'm aware of the danger of celebrity with kids and I'm aware of the danger of having means with kids," he said, explaining that his own childhood had been much less privileged. "I learned to be scrappy because of that. You can put me in any situation, I can survive. I can survive anything. I had to make sure that that's something that our kids get. That's important to me."

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Iris Goldsztajn is a London-based journalist, editor and author. She is the morning editor at Marie Claire, and her work has appeared in the likes of British Vogue, InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Refinery29 and SELF. Iris writes about everything from celebrity news and relationship advice to the pitfalls of diet culture and the joys of exercise. She has many opinions on Harry Styles, and can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.