George Clooney is looking back on his past friendship with President Donald Trump.
“I knew him very well,” Clooney, 64, told Variety in an interview published on Tuesday, December 30. “He used to call me a lot, and he tried to help me get into a hospital once to see a back surgeon. I’d see him out at clubs and at restaurants.”
The Oscar-winner added that Trump’s demeanor changed once politics came into his life. “He’s a big goofball,” he told the outlet. Well, he was. That all changed.” (Trump was elected president in 2016 and again in 2024.)
Clooney, who has been an outspoken liberal in the industry, added that it’s been a “trying” time for the United States. His comments come one day after he and wife Amal Clooney, along with their 8-year-old twins, Alexander and Ella, were granted French citizenship, according to a naturalization decree via French newspaper Journal Officiel published on Saturday, December 27.
The couple own a farm in the south of France, which includes 100 acres of grapes and 1200 olive trees and serves as their primary residence. The pair also have additional homes in England and Italy.
Clooney previously opened up about his decision to raise his kids on a farm after growing up on one himself in his home state in Kentucky, explaining how his perspective on a more rural life has changed over the years.
“A good portion of my life growing up was on a farm, and as a kid, I hated the whole idea of it,” he explained to Esquire in October about wanting to leave Los Angeles behind. “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.”
The actor noted that he was “worried about raising” his twins in “the culture of Hollywood,” a place that he felt would “never” give them a “fair shake” at a normal life.
“France — they kind of don’t give a s*** about fame,” he explained. “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.”
Spending time on a farm also teaches his kids how to get their hands dirty, the actor said, recalling a time he tasked them with repainting an old property fence that had suffered from sun damage.
“At first they’re taking these little, tiny brushstrokes, boop, boop, boop,” he quipped. “And I go, ‘Nooo, paint the goddamn fence.’ And then they go crazy painting the fence and they’re covered with paint and oil and stuff.”
While officially becoming French citizens may be new for the family of four, George and Amal, 47, are more than familiar with the European lifestyle. The couple met in Lake Como, Italy, in 2013, tying the knot in Venice the following year.
Since welcoming Ella and Alexander in June 2017, the foursome have made a tradition of spending summers in their villa, which is located in the Alps of northern Italy.
In August 2022, an insider exclusively told Us Weekly that George and Amal found solace in Europe during the warmer months.
“They’re so happy and in a very good place right now,” the source said, noting that when not with their kids, George and Amal enjoyed “date nights and drives in the countryside.”
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