George Clooney is getting candid about his path to fatherhood. After welcoming twins Alexander and Ella with wife Amal Clooney back in July of 2017, the Oscar-winning actor revealed the sweet reason he waited until his 50s to have children, and all of the credit goes to his wife.
Clooney opened up about becoming a father later in life during a recent sit down with Today’s Hoda Kotb. Reflecting on everything he has learned since welcoming his twins, Clooney revealed that it is only now that he realizes how “empty” his life had been prior fatherhood and said he doesn’t believe he ever would have become a dad if it weren’t for Amal. The Midnight Sky actor said he “found the right person to have them with.”
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Clooney and Amal tied the knot in September of 2014 in a lavish Italian wedding and welcomed their twins in 2017. Prior to that point, Clooney had what many would declare a massively successful life, having starred in a number of high-profile TV series and films and having taken home numerous awards, and he admitted that before saying “I do” and officially earning his proud dad title, he wasn’t the type of person whose goal “was, ‘I have to have children.’”
“I wasn’t looking at life, going, ‘My life will be unfulfilled without children.’ I felt like I had a pretty full life,” he said. “Then I met Amal and realized that my life had been pretty empty. And then when you throw these two kids in there, then suddenly you realize how incredibly empty it was.”
Now, however, Clooney says fatherhood has given him “everything.” He told Kotb becoming a dad has given him “a sense of belonging and a sense of home and unconditional love — all the things that you were hoping you could get from a really good career and a dog. You realize that this is a lot more than that.” As they continue to raise their two children, the actor also revealed that he and Amal work as a perfect team, something he says they’ve been “since we met. The most we’ve ever been apart is three or four days, never had a fight, which people always get ticked off when I say. You know, we’ve been married seven years. We have a really wonderful life together. We’re both busy, but we’re both very involved in each other’s lives, which is nice.”
Part of Clooney’s involvement in his children’s lives involves passing down some hilarious pranks, with the actor quipping that “the worst thing you can do is leave me alone with them for a long period of time because the things they learn are just horrific.” Clooney added that he enjoys “teaching my children to do things that shock their mother.”
