In marriage, and now with the kids, you give away the selfishness of only looking out for yourself,” George Clooney, 63, once told People.
It’s a very personal change in mindset that’s been important to Clooney and his wife, British barrister, Amal, 46 – and now it’s leading to a big decision about their future. George has previously spoken about a desire to slow down for the couple’s children, twins Ella and Alexander, who turn 7 on June 6. In late 2021, he told the WTF with Marc Maron podcast that he and Amal had been “working a lot” that year and had plans to minimise their commitments moving forward.
“It doesn’t mean [Amal is] going to stop taking the cases that she wants, it just means she’s not going to take six. And I’m not going to do four jobs a year, I’m going to do one,” he clarified.
But now the couple are reportedly discussing taking things one step further with a move to the south of France to raise their kids away from the Hollywood spotlight.
“Now that the kids are school-aged, Amal and George are thinking very seriously about where they want them to grow up. As much as they both love big cities like Los Angeles and London, they feel that a smaller town offers a lot more for their kids, especially when it comes to privacy,” an insider told In Touch. “They love the countryside and the lifestyle. Amal and the twins speak French, and George is taking lessons.”
In 2022, George bantered about how Ella and Alexander could speak three languages by the time they were 5. “We’ve made a terrible mistake,” he quipped on CBS Mornings. “We taught them Italian. But we don’t speak Italian, so we’ve armed them with a language they can harm us with. And we both don’t really know what they’re saying.”
Jokes aside, George and Amal are prepped for a move if they wish to make one. They purchased a breathtaking 172-hectare Provence wine estate named Domaine Le Canadel near Brignoles in 2021, complete with a pool, vineyard and lavender garden. With the duo celebrating their 10-year wedding anniversary in September, it would be the perfect place for a party.
“They plan to have all their friends fly over from Hollywood, and, of course, both their families will be there,” a source told In Touch. Any celebration would no doubt be more lavish than the one George had to mark his 63rd birthday on May 6.
With that date coinciding with commitments filming a new Netflix movie in Italy, George marked the occasion by playing basketball with co-star Adam Sandler. As fans wished him a Happy Birthday during a break between scenes later in the week, the star replied in Italian, “Sono vecchio” – meaning “I am old”. His attitude to ageing may indeed be behind a desire to embrace a new life.
“Amal and I have had these long conversations about my age,” George told the Washington Post in 2022. “I said, ‘You know, I’m 61, I can still do most things I used to do. But in 20 years, I’ll be 81 and things will be different … So these are the good years, this next 20 or 25.’ I said, ‘Let’s make sure we’re living differently.’”
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